No End In Sight To My Nightmare
by CoRpAsItE
Summary: In a town corrupted by the Umbrella Corporation, two familiar faces, along with the help of two citizens, must escape the horrors of the T and G-Viruses, along with something new, something worse, something with intelligence. R&R Finally updated, sorry everyone... Life smacked me around.
1. Rude Awakenings

Resident Evil: No End In Sight To This Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.

****

Chapter Zero: Rude Awakenings

"Two years, three weeks, and six days ago, I went through hell, hell on Earth. No one believed me when I told them. The only people who did are the five who have shared my experience, either with me, or at another time. Who would honestly let Umbrella continue what they've done? If they knew, they were either bought or eliminated. AHH! God I HATE Umbrella!"

Leon Kennedy scours through his medicine cabinet and throws all the medicines and supplies with Umbrella's name on them into his trashcan. He walks from the bathroom, through the kitchen, and arrives outside.

He breathes in deeply and sighs, "The smell of being completely isolated from civilization."

He scowls at how Umbrella forced him into hiding, but loses it as he sets the trashcan's contents ablaze. He steps back quickly as the fire turns odd colors, blue, green, pink, yellow, and finally purple.

His eyes shift around curiously and he whispers, "That can't be good..."

He runs back inside and turns on the television, but not before grabbing a cold one from the fridge, well, mini-fridge.

"Welcome, I'm Stephanie Douglas, and this is Herron City 5 'o' clock news. First up, our city's population problem is finally solved. With the opening of the new medicinal lab in our sister-town, Riley, over two-thousand men and women will be moving to Riley to take on the wanted jobs there. We have Umbrella to thank for the answer to our population problem. Second up, and our main topic tonight..."

Leon drops the beer to the floor and says, "No... This can't be happening. Not now."

His thoughts race to Claire and he tries his hardest to remember if that is the city Claire moved to. "Aw fuck it."

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Cops, meter-maids, and various criminals run through the lobby of Riley's Police Department.

One cop stops at the front desk and asks, "Aw come on Jess, just give me one more chance?!"

Jess looks up at the man before her and says quickly, "No Dusty, last time you drove the SWAT van, you ran over seven dogs, two cats, and countless birds. Not to mention you hit six stop signs and two street lights. You better be glad those animals were either strays or wild. Oh, how far are you on paying for the signs and lights?"

Lieutenant Dusty Stracener looks down at her and says, "Two more weeks. Hey, uh, has Brian walked in yet?"

Jess frowns and points toward the Homicide Office.

Dusty nods and says, "Thank you. Oh, I want access to the evidence room. That pool table is calling my name."

Jess curses him and he walks into the HO. The room is practically empty, save for the figure slumped over a rapidly flashing computer screen.

"Yo! Brian! Stop looking at naked boys and help me with this new serial killer file."

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Brian Scott spins from the screen and says, "Already ahead of you. We have a list of suspects, one has a strong connection and motive with all seven girls. His name is Peter Gruber. His connection is he was their dentist. Each girl was killed approximately one week after their last visit to him, save for the last one. She was killed a little earlier, three days after. The last connection is that he has dated each of them in the past."

Dusty sits down in his chair and rubs his temples, "And what is his motive?"

Brian types frantically at his computer and stumbles, "I.. I.. I had it here. Where did it go?"

Dusty spins around and pulls out his gun, aiming it at the picture of Chief Steiner. He ejects the chambered round and removes the clip, then sliding the clip into his belt.

He taps his left hand on his desk and grumbles, "You didn't have a motive, did you?"

Brian laughs uneasily and replies, "Nope. But our next suspect has no motive or a connection."

Dusty spins around and claps his hands, "So, who is he?"

Brian chuckles and replies, "SHE is one Claire Redfield. She was seen near the murder locations. Our star witness is blind in one eye and deaf. Well, we've gotten more from less."

Dusty laughs and props his feet up on his desk, "You're telling me. We got an address on her?"

Brian types away for a while and says, "Yeah, it's uh... Oh, here it is. She lives at 153 Geneva Avenue. Time for a road-trip?"

Dusty nods and says, "You have to drive though, I had my license revoked..."

Brian laughs and remarks, "The SWAT van incident? Jess told me about that."

Dusty and Brian laugh and walk out to the garage.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

"Hey, Red!"

Claire Redfield turns around and shouts, "What!?"

Her boss runs after her and says, "You forgot your paycheck. So, here."

Claire notices the stare in his eyes and takes the envelope, "I have a boyfriend."

Her boss laughs and says, "Keep telling yourself that. I think of you as one of my own children."

Claire flicks some hair out of her eyes and retorts while running down the street, "If people knew what you think of your own children, you'd get arrested!"

She slides down the handrail down into the subway and pays the fare. She sits down on an empty bench and sighs loudly, her eyes immediately taking in every detail in the tunnel.

Drunk in the corner, pickpocket trying to grab a woman's wallet. Cop grabbing said pickpocket. Horny male walking toward me. His wife dragging him away. Thanks lady. Ah, here comes my train.

She stands up and walks toward the train.

A man bumps into her and she grabs his wrist, then bends it back, "Hey! Officer, I got a live one!"

She takes her paycheck from his grasp and tosses him onto the concrete, then walks into the subway train. She looks out the window and watches as the cops clasp handcuffs around the thief's wrists. She grasps the bar above her as the train sets off, the ride little over ten minutes to her stop. She looks around and finds her car surprisingly packed.

Must be the people from Herron.

She smiles at the kid tugging her leg and he asks, "Have you seen my mommy?"

Claire bends down somehow and asks back, "What does she look like?"

The kid looks around and places a finger on his lips, then replies, "She looks like you."

Claire is flattered and nods, "What is your name?"

The kid thinks and replies, "Leon Hunter. My mommy's name is Samantha, I think."

Claire nods and stands up, "Is there a Samantha Hunter here?"

A woman gasps and forces her was over to her, "Leon! Thank you, Miss?"

Claire smiles and remarks, "Claire, Claire Redfield. No problem."

Samantha and Claire talk for a while as the train passes a figure in the tunnel.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Dusty and Brian walk up to Miss Redfield's house and Dusty rings the doorbell.

"So, I bet ten bucks, she's not home," says Brian as Dusty rings it again.

This time the door opens, a redheaded woman standing in the doorway.

She flicks some strands of red hair from her face and asks, "May I help you two?"

Dusty slaps Brian on the back and he says, "Yes ma'am. I'm Officer Brian Scott and this is Lieutenant Dusty Stracener for the Riley Police Department. We would like to ask you some questions pertaining to the recent murders. Are you willing to answer our questions?"

Claire nods and lets the two cops in. Dusty frowns at the complete simplicity of the house, just the standard items, nothing fancy or odd.

Claire catches his glance and says, "I just moved in, my personal items haven't arrived yet."

Dusty looks at Brian and they both nod, that little bit of information striking an odd sensor.

Dusty smiles and asks, "We've gotten reports of people spotting you near every murder scene. Can you explain this?"

Claire laughs slightly and replies, "Nope... Wait are you sure they saw me? I met a woman on the subway who looked just like me."

Brian growls from behind Dusty and says, "You were in our warrant database!"

Claire is obviously frustrated, "And that immediately makes me a suspect?! You are some of the most idiotic cops ever! Look up Samantha Hunter!"

While she was saying this, she has pushed Dusty and Brian out of her house and slammed the door.

Brian looks at Dusty and says, "Well, I don't think she did it."

Dusty slides his hand down his face and retorts, "You're sad, you know that?"

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Leon's phone rings for probably the twelfth time in two hours, a record for him. He picks it up and cradles it between his head and shoulder, then returns to making his infamous beanie-weenies!

"Hello? Oh, hey Claire! So you do live in Riley. Have you heard about the new Umbrella lab that built itself in your town?"

Leon listens closely as Claire tells her encounter with the Klutz Kops, "Yeah, so? I mean come on! Get over it Claire, they made a mistake."

Claire screams back over the phone and Leon replies, "Yeah, yeah, I'll be there. I'll arrive in about an hour. Alright, bye."

He turns off the stove and grabs a bag from his room. He shoves some random clothes into the bag, and then reaches under his bed. He pulls out the black case and looks at the handgun inside. He picks it up and slides it and the two clips into his back pockets.

He slings the bag around his shoulder and runs out to his jeep. No, it isn't the one from his accident at Raccoon City, but a small green one, a little hand-me-down from Chris Redfield. He tosses his bag into the back seat and sits the gun and clips in the passenger seat.

He turns the jeep on and shifts gears quickly, "Umbrella, one of us has to go, and I don't think it is me."

He floors the gas pedal and turns onto the interstate.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Dusty slams his fists onto the dashboard and shouts, "We have no suspects!"

Brian fumbles with the radio and says, "Hey, Jess, can you look up a Samantha Hunter for me. Thanks."

Dusty reaches into the glove-box, half-expecting Brian's gun, but finds the worst item imaginable.

Dusty holds the offending item up and asks calmly, "Why the hell is there a gay magazine with a... {GAGS} Dude, why is this in here?"

Brian pulls the squad-car over and says, "It is not mine."

Dusty arches both eyebrows and replies, "I want to believe it, but this IS YOUR car, no one else has the keys. AH!!!! That is nasty!"

He rolls the window down and tosses it out the window.

"Aw man! What did you do that for?!" shouts Brian as he turns the car back on.

Dusty slowly opens the door and jumps out right before Brian takes off. Dusty brushes the icky feeling from his body, then faces the direction of the police station.

He kicks the gravel and says, "Aw crap..."

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

After what felt like an hour, Dusty finally arrives at the Police Station.

"It amazes me how they modeled almost the entire city after the destroyed Raccoon City."

He shrugs it off and walks in.

"Hey! Dusty! Brian was looking for you!"

Dusty grabs the cop by his shoulders and says, "Don't tell him I'm here."

The cop gets the idea and walks off. Dusty smiles and walks up to Jess.

"Yo, babe, can I get key to the evidence room?"

Jess throws her head to the left and Dusty catches a glimpse of Brian, "Quickly please?"

He turns from the desk and something small hits him in the back, "Here, asshole, the key to the evidence room."

Dusty smiles, takes it, spins around, and says, "Aw, you're so sweet."

Jess stares at him and growls, "Don't push me. I will make you pay."

Dusty backs off and runs down the right hall, stopping at room 132, Evidence and Analysis. His hand reaches for the knob and he turns it, the knob squeaking loudly in protest. He darts his eyes around and when he's sure no one heard him, he ducks in quickly.

His eyes water at the intense smell of stale air and a few choice pieces dead rat, "Ah, the smell of peace, quiet, and solitude.. Well, whatever solitude means."

He grabs a pool cue from a shelf and pulls the large green tarp off of the table.

"I wonder who owned you before you became evidence?"

He pulls the triangle from under the table and gathers the balls from each pocket.

His eyes catch the red and white Umbrella painted into the green felt and his mind asks THE question, _What the hell does the Umbrella stand for?_

Well, now was no time to ask unanswerable questions, he only has a thirty-minute break. He pulls the cue back and throws it forward.

"Stracener!!!!"

Duty spins around and stumbles, "Chief Steiner! What are you d.. doing here?"

**It may be short, so I'll say one thing! So SUE ME! It'll get longer and better.**


	2. One Door To Hell, But No Key

Resident Evil: No End In Sight To This Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.

****

Chapter One: One Door to Hell, But No Key.

"First-up in traffic, the southbound entrance into Riley has been shut-down due to a four-car pile-up. Police and Medical Officials are on the scene. For an alternate entrance, use the off-ramp at the outskirts of Riley. Now in other news..."

Leon screams in rage and shouts, "Why me?! Can't I ever get a break!?"

He searches for the exit, but the deep black smoke catches his attention. A sinking feeling fills his stomach and he turns onto the ramp, police sirens begin to filter through the thick canvas of the jeep-top. He pulls over onto the shoulder and slides out, his boots crushing glass and shards of metal.

A cop runs up and shouts, "You can't come any farther! Go back and use exit 17 to enter Riley."

Leon smiles and stares at the only body that isn't in an ambulance or in their car, the features charred, torn, and... _Eaten... No!_

"You have to listen to me! That woman over there, was she lying there when you arrived?"

The cop shrugs and replies, "Yes, she was. Why do you ask?"

Leon keeps his gaze on the form and asks, "Have you figured out how many people were in the cars?"

The cop looks at him and retorts, "That's not at liberty for us to discuss."

Leon pulls out his badge from the Raccoon PD and says, "My name is Officer John Marion of the Herron City Police Department. Now, officer, what is the answer to my question?"

The cop clears his throat and replies, "Everyone in the cars are all that are involved, the first car swerved to avoid that woman. He said that she was stumbling around and bleeding profusely."

Leon pulls the gun from his back pocket and walks up to the zombie woman. He aims the gun at her skull and she moans and rises up at him.

"Forgive me," whispers Leon as he pulls the trigger.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Claire taps her boot-clad feet on the bench and looks at her watch, 7:30.

"He's late. Again."

She looks up at the cop from earlier, _Dusty._

"What?" asks Claire.

Dusty looks down at her and he replies, "My friend Drew, he was supposed to pick me up at seven, but I guess his wife got in the way."

He sighs and leans against the wall, his jacket rising up a little, revealing his piece.

Claire examines it and asks, "Is that a Glock?"

Dusty shakes his head and replies, "No, it's a M93R. My personal firearm. Is that a Browning?"

Claire arches an eyebrow and then remembers the Browning strapped around her left thigh, "Oh, yeah."

Dusty chuckles and then walks forward, his friend Drew parked in front of them.

"Bye Claire," says Dusty as he jumps in, then they take off.

Claire shakes the encounter off as Leon pulls up, a distant and saddened look in his eyes.

She walks up to the jeep and reels back at the blood that coats his shirt and pants, "Don't tell me.. Please, don't let it be a repeat of Raccoon City, PLEASE!!"

Leon can only stare at her, the lost look in his eyes, growing brighter, "Get in Claire, we have to get as far away as possible."

Claire pulls out her handgun and shakes her head, "No, if we leave, Umbrella will win. I say we stay and help anyone we can."

Leon agrees and they head for the center of the city, heading toward certain doom? That is something only time will tell.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"So, what's up?" asks Drew as he turns left on Eleventh Avenue.

Dusty is quiet in his seat as he watches a group of people gather around a young woman.

"Yo, dude, pull over."

Drew acknowledges and Dusty hops out, his hands automatically reaching for his badge and gun, "Hey! What's going on here?"

The group ignores him and they begin to bend over the woman, whose mouth is thrown open in a scream, but no sound is coming forth.

Her eyes lock with his and she mouths, "Help me..." then the group encumbers her.

Dusty fires a shot straight up and shouts, "Riley Police Department! Stop what you are doing and face me."

The group ignores her and continues... _Eating her???_

He violently dispenses with the thought and he fires another one, this time the shot catching the attention of the bulky-guy directly in front of him.

"Oh my god, what is that smell? Rotten fruit? Halt! Stop where you are! Come any closer and I'll be forced to shoot you!"

The man ignores him and steps into the light of the overhead streetlight.

Oh my god... What is happening to these people?

His skin is torn and splayed open, his clothes ragged and covered in blood. What really grabs his attention is the loss of life to the face and eyes, almost as though it's a... zombie.

Dusty backs up a few steps and he shouts, "Go Drew! Take off!"

Drew doesn't need another warning, his foot slams on the gas and he peels down the street. Dusty turns back and he frowns as the other seven or eight people stand up, their look the same as the zombie.

"What is happening to Riley?"

He raises the gun and shoots the zombie in the left shoulder, the sound of bone snapping and flesh puncturing faint over the group's moans and groans. Dusty turns and runs down the street, trying his hardest to forget the unpleasant loneliness in the zombie's eyes. He trips over a trashcan and slides along the sidewalk, his side coming in contact with something wet and warm, no, it's cold.

He jumps up and pushes a female zombie off of him, his thoughts locked on the word, "Zombie or not, you are still Riley's population."

He jumps over her and runs down Main, watching as more and more of the zombified population rises from every dark corner of the city, their moans drowning out all life.

"How did this happen under our noses?" asks Dusty to no one in particular as he dodges a few more zombies.

"I know these people, I protect them, yet I can't protect them now."

His ears perk to the sound of rubber screeching on the asphalt, then he hears a voice shout, "Jump in!"

He turns to the street and a green jeep barrels toward him, a hand shoved out to help. He reaches for it and jumps forward, the hand grasping his and throwing him in the back.

"Hello, Dusty," replies Claire Redfield as she reloads her handgun, the empty clattering down the street.

"What happened here?"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leon looks at the man behind him and then returns to the road, a zombie walking in front of the jeep. He swerves to avoid it, but he hits another one, blood coating the windshield and hood.

The man leans forward and asks, "Do you always hit people?"

Leon stops the jeep and turns to the cop, "Listen, you don't know what we're dealing with here. These things killed the entire population.."

The cop cuts him off, "These things ARE the entire population! I just want to know one thing, how?"

Leon and Claire exchange a glance and Claire replies, "You know the new Umbrella building they built near here? Umbrella is a legit medical corporation, but everyone has their dirty little secrets. Left up here. Umbrella has a deeper, darker secret, the White Umbrella as they call it. They work in the fields of bio-weapons and virology. This city and Raccoon City are the little accidents of theirs. We don't know how it happened here, but in Raccoon, it was released by rats. The virus doesn't seem to effect certain organisms."

The cop thrashes his arms about and shouts, "What are you talking about?! I don't understand? What has happened to Riley?"

Leon turns to him and replies, "It has become the City of the Dead. If you want to survive this, tell us, are there any weapons at the Riley Police Department?"

The cop frowns and replies, "No, we keep them in the old building. Safety and protocol."

Leon growls and asks, "Where is the old building?"

The cop begins to think, then shyly replies, "In the outskirts of town... By the way, I'm Dusty Stracener."

Claire's eyes widen and she shouts, "Look out!"

Leon heard it before he saw it, his mind dragging a picture of it from Raccoon, but these look different... He turns the steering wheel to the left and the jeep slams into the brick wall, sparks flying over and behind the car. Leon, Claire, and the cop cover their faces, then the ride comes to a complete halt.

Claire looks at Leon, her heart racing, and shouts, "How many times do you have to do that!?"

Leon holds his head and groans, the bent streetlight groaning and swaying over the smashed jeep, thin smoke trails floating from under the jeep.

Dusty catches the smoke and stumbles as he jumps out, "Uh, guys, the jeep... It's smoking."

Leon and Claire hop out and watch in horror and sudden remembrance of the tanker in Raccoon. Leon grabs Claire and Dusty and runs down the street, his eyes looking for anything to use as cover. His alert eyes spot a dumpster and he throws them behind it, the ground shaking before the explosion drowns out the sounds of a city of the walking dead.

The explosion, if they weren't so DAMNED close to it, would have been beautiful, the flames dancing across the setting sun, casting red and orange shadows along the pavement. The heat is bearable, but highly uncomfortable. Just when they think it's safe, flaming rain falls from the sky, burning anything and everything.

Dusty watches as more of it lands around them and he says the only words that make sense, "We're cursed."

OK, so I guess this won't be one of my half-hour-to-read-a-chapter story, so, ENJOY! (-:


	3. Secrets, Puzzles, and Pizza

****

Resident Evil: No End In Sight To This Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.

****

Chapter Two: Secrets, Puzzles, and Pizza!

"Hmph! No power means no open doors. Perfect, their protocol will destroy them."

Michael Jones turns from the computer screen and holds up the handgun a cop gave him when the police station was overrun.

Out of eighteen rounds, only seven remain, "And I still got seventeen miles to the Umbrella Facility. Great time to be alive. The panic at the facility is bound to be immense, IF they are still alive."

He grabs the gun from the table next to him, kicks the computer, and walks out, the early evening light casting everything in a red haze, making the town seem like it's on fire. Michael holds the gun forward and steps out into the street, at least seven undead in front of him, maybe more behind him.

"At least the Re3 haven't put up an appearance."

He was thankful for that, but it wasn't much to dwell one's thoughts and hopes into. A female zombie moans from his left and he hears it, the seemingly endless sound of flesh tearing and muscle snapping. A cold shiver runs down his spine and he slides the gun into the left pocket of his lab-coat. A wolf, or something like it, howls from over the mountain range due south. Michael breathes in deeply and coughs violently, the smell of death and decay finally getting to him.

"That was probably a Cerberus. Or something else..."

He walks down the street and kicks a zombie that got too close.

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leon holds his gun forward and searches the empty hotel lobby, for what, he isn't sure yet.

"There was a Comic Convention that was held here yesterday... Oh great, a zombie-Batman..." says Dusty as he heads to the left, Leon and Claire strafing to the right, guns held forward, waiting for anything.

When they are sure it's safe, the three sit down on the sofas strewn along the left-hand wall. For the first time since he told Drew to take off, Dusty is able to observe the surroundings. The A/C is blowing through three vents stuck on the molding at the top of the three walls opposite the entrance, causing loose papers to flutter around haplessly. On the reception desk, a phone is off the hook, blood covering the receiver and some pinkish fluid dripping down the front of the desk. A few of the fake plants that every hotel, hospital, and restaurant seem to have are overturned and broken, miscellaneous body parts thrown behind them.

Leon stands up and looks at the three doors, "Ok, Claire, you take the west side, Dusty, you take the east side, and I'll take the back, we meet back here in a half-hour. Got it?"

Dusty and Claire nod, they both share the same look, a look of confidence, yet fear of what may lay ahead.

Dusty checks his clip and walks through the left door, the only one with blood smeared across it, _Figures... I get the door that probably leads to certain doom and long lists of pain and torture... _

He smiles at the thought and pushes the door open, the gun immediately pointed down the hall, which is surprisingly empty, considering the look of the door.

He looks at the wood chips on the carpeted floor and finds a single bullet casing lying amidst the wood and paint, then it suddenly clicks, _The door was shot open from this side.. Which means? Come on, think Lieutenant! There's someone else in here!_

His eyes widen at the thought that someone could be here, watching him from the shadows, but the door was shot open from THIS side.

__

Claire! Leon! Aw crap!

He turns to open the door, but it won't budge!

He looks through the hole where the lock once was and sees one of the sofas has been pushed in front of it, _But I didn't here anything._

He kicks the door and turns to the hallway, a faint sobbing sound fluttering from around the corner at the end of the hallway. Dusty's cop instincts kick in and he sidesteps down the hall, his back pointed toward most of the doors, but he wants to get the jumps on anything that may be waiting for him at the bend. He squats and pushes out with his left leg, pushing his body to the right, his head barely passing the wall, his eyes resting on a figure huddled over a dead man. The sobs are coming from her, but something is wrong...

Dusty stands up and walks toward her, his gun sliding back into the holster, "Hey, it's ok, I'm here to help yo..."

His thoughts of helping her dissipate as her sobs turn into a slow, but growing steadily laugh, the laugh reverberating down the hall.

Her laughs turn to screams of pain and torture as her skin turns read, long, white spikes growing from her fingers, _Oh hell no!_

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leon pauses at the entrance to the kitchen, his gaze locked on what appear to be footprints. He gaze is stuck between watching the hall for movement and examining the footprints.

__

Evenly spaced, fairly recent, and determined, whoever made these is still around and living.

He stands up slowly and turns his gaze to the kitchen, a small, hissing noise emitting from it.

He pulls his gun up and slowly steps in, his eyes immediately determining the threat in the room, a single, decapitated zombie lays sizzling on the stove, _But no smell..._

That little scene strikes him as terribly odd, but then he notices that the entire hotel smells like cooking flesh, he's gotten used to it already. He gives the hall one last look-over, then walks into the kitchen. He's about halfway into the cramped kitchen when he hears it, the sound of gunfire and a loud hissing noise, a hiss that could only come from one creature, a Licker.

He runs back into the hall and charges down it, rounding the corner only to have a large-caliber handgun shoved in his face, _Not again..._

"Who are you?!"

Leon can only stare at the figure with his mouth hung open in disbelieving awe.

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Claire turned at the faint gunshots, but dismissed them as Leon.

__

He's a big boy, he can take care of himself.

Her door lead her into a large, hall?, of some sort, large plaster-covered pillars file down the room in two rows, giving the room a cathedral-like feel. She scans the room, floor-to-ceiling for any threats, but finds the place pleasantly empty, but her happiness turns to horror as the windows lining the right wall are shattered, blood trails leading from them through an open door in front of her and on the left.

She cocks her weapon and slowly creeps toward it, her eyes locked on the windows. As she passes the last one, the sound of a distant siren wails softly, possibly a tornado siren, but who knows. She jumps in front of the door and reels back at the smell, one she has almost forgotten. The smell of sewer water, like the stuff near the late Chief Irons' 'sanctuary'. She crinkles her nose and slowly walks in, her gun held tightly, so tightly that her knuckles are turning white.

__

Empty.. Then where did the blood come from?

The room was easily the size of a large classroom, maybe larger, with crates lining the floor, a few stacked up to five high. She opens one and screams, the answer to where the bodies went has been answered. In the first crate, the were a body's worth of clean bones surrounded by straw, but something was wrong, the skull was split in half, almost like a...

She spins around and jumps for the door, but a red flash slams her to her back, the breath jarred from her lungs. The thing that pushed her to the ground jumps into the corner near the ceiling and turns its sightless eye sockets to her, almost as if it's examining her. The Licker crawls farther away from her and twirls its tongue about wildly, missing her face by mere inches. The slime off of its tongue is extremely sticky and vile, smelling faintly of rotten flesh.

She shakily grabs her gun from the open crate and holds it up, pulling the trigger twice in succession. The first round digs into one of its hind legs, possibly severing a bone, IF it has any. The Licker hisses in pain and jumps at her, the flap of muscle that was once its left hind leg flailing behind it. The second round digs into the soft pliable brain of the creature, killing it on contact. It falls at her feet and slams into her legs, sending her to the ground yet again.

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dusty watches in horror as the woman turns into a hideous, red, hissing creature, long claws protruding from where her fingers once were. He holds the gun up in disgust and then lowers it as the creature flips into the air, its claws attaching to the ceiling.

__

Oh, you have to be shitting me... I did not just see that!

The creature turns to him and opens its mouth, a thick glob, the size of a baseball, slides down its head, landing on the ground with an audible smack. Dusty looks up and begins to stumble back into the hall, a long, flexible appendage sliding from its lipless mouth.

When the appendage, _Call it what it is Stracener, a tongue_, reaches its full length, it slams into the two walls, forming two, one foot deep ruts in the plaster walls.

__

Damn it Dusty! Shoot it! Pump that thing full of 9mm lead!

He nods and drains the clip into the beast's back, quarter-sized holes peppering the deep red of the skinless creature. He fumbles for his last clip and jams it in. His gaze turns from the gun to the creature, which has fallen down in front of him, its back legs scrunched, pushing its body into a pounce-like crouch. The tongue slashes down in between his legs and Dusty jumps back, rug and concrete hitting his body. He lands on his feet and fires three more rounds, the first two digging into its face, the third blowing the grayish brain apart.

The creature flips onto its back and kicks its legs and arms around wildly, then it slows down and dies, a long, hissing breath escaping the dead creature's mouth. Dusty stumbles back and slides down into the corner, his head cocked to one side, his gaze locked on the beast that lay dead before him.

As his mind races a million miles an hour, one solitary thought surfaces, _That was a human... Umbrella has to go down! I can't let them kill any more people!_

The thought brings him back to reality as a hand rests on his shoulder. He looks up and no one is there, so he grabs the hand, and it comes around, without an attached body!

He screams and throws it at the dead creature, "Ah! What the hell!?"

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Claire heard the scream and ran back into the lobby, finding the door to the east wing blocked by a sofa.

"Who could have done this? When?"

She throws the thought aside and pulls the sofa away, the door lock blasted off, but it wasn't Dusty. She pulls the door open and spots Dusty huddling in the far corner, his head pointed down the corner, a tiny blood puddle flowing from around the corner.

"Hey! What happened?!" shouts Claire as she watches Dusty stand up, his knees shaking horribly.

He forces his head to look at her and he replies, "I do NOT want to talk about it. All I can say is THAT THING SHOULD NOT EXIST!!!!!"

Claire places a soothing hand on his shoulder and she asks, "Can you at least describe it to me?"

Dusty looks at her and literally glares daggers at her, the fear, confusion, and pure hate in his eyes evident, "No, all I can say is 'tongue'. Wait, where's Leon?"

Claire gasps and runs back into the lobby, Dusty walking slowly behind her, his mind obviously going in a thousand different directions, _Just like mine was in Raccoon City._

She jumps over the reception desk and runs through the door, her mind suddenly going through a thousand different scenarios about what could have happened.

"Where have you gone Leon?" says Claire as she reaches the end of the hall, each room locked or empty.

A single thought emerges in her mind and sticks, _The shot lock, the moved sofa, someone else is here!_

She walks back into the kitchen and spots an open box of pizza, the smell over powered by the cooking zombie.

__

Pizza?

****

So? What you think!? Tell me, or, give me ideas of what else could happen! Who is the mysterious person with the gun? Why was Leon awe-struck when he saw them? Coming soon:-: Chapter Three: A Thousand Rooms, But No Leon! Read And For God's sake, leave me a little something in a review! CoRpAsItE


	4. A Thousand Rooms, But No Leon

****

Resident Evil: No End In Sight To This Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.

****

Chapter Three: A Thousand Rooms, But No Leon

Leon's head hurt, badly. On top of that, there was a warm liquid running down the left side of his face, a liquid he knew all too well, his own blood. He tries to wipe it off, but his hands are tied to a wooden chair. Same with his feet. Leon hasn't opened his eyes yet, but finally does, regretting it instantly.

The room is completely black, save for a single flame in one of the farthest areas of the room, _A match? Lighter? Possibly a flamethrower?_

He dispenses with unnecessary thought and watches the flame move around him, then begins to close in, the form holding it stopping every few feet and lighting a lamp. When the form finally reaches him, the entire room is encompassed with flickering light, revealing a large fridge as the room Leon is held captive in.

He turns from the room to the man standing in front of him, _He could be his twin! He looks just like Brian Irons!_

The man in front of him looks down upon him and his deep voice bellows, "It seems I caught another intruder in my hotel! Now, tell me, who are you and what are you doing here?"

It wasn't the first time he'd heard those lines, but Leon was in no mood to answer truthfully, "I'm your mama, and I'm here to kick your ass!"

__

The whole town is going to hell and he's worried about intruders?! This guy is on something.

The man laughs and says, "You snoops are getting on my last nerves! If I find another one here, then I'll come back and kill you! So tell me, are there any more?"

Leon spits at the man and secretly wiggles his right wrist free, "Nope. Just me."

As the man turns his head toward a clattering noise, Leon bends his arm back, then punches the man square in his gut, which is just a little lower than his head. The man groans and falls over, his arms robotically moving to his abdomen.

Leon manages to free his left arm and legs, "Son of a bitch!"

His gun is gone, and by the looks of things, the man got rid of it.

__

Probably threw it into the street. I hate you!

The man groans again, but Leon ignores him. He quickly searches the room and comes across an empty handgun, possibly a .220. Leon groans in anger and rage at his situation, but it is lost as the thought of Claire passes through his mind. He slides the empty weapon into his holster and walks out into the well-lit hall.

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Claire and Dusty walk toward the only door left in the hall. They've searched almost every room in the hall, and had to go through ten bullets to do it.

Claire coughs and asks, "How many rounds you got left?"

Dusty holds his gun up and says, "Three... You got any more?"

Claire frowns and says, "Yeah, I got an extra clip. Remember, head shots, no matter what!"

Dusty graciously takes the clip and slides it into his left pocket, his gun trained on the shadows up ahead.

Claire watches him and thinks, _He seems so sure of his abilities. Leon, where are you!?_

She looks up and spots Dusty staring at her, or behind her? Definitely behind her. She spins around and stumbles back, a trembling scream flowing from her mouth. It can't be alive, SHOULDN'T be alive! But it is, the leather-clad form of none-other than Mr. X tearing through the doorway at the end of the hall, but this one looks different, a large stitch stretching from above his right ear down under his trench-coat. She bumps into Dusty and pushes him down the hall, not even bothering to reach for her gun.

The thundering steps of the new X pounds behind her, causing plaster, paint, and wood to fall from the ceiling and walls.

"Wha?" asks Dusty, but is interrupted as Claire shoves him into a random room, then resumes running down the hall.

Her thoughts turn to one scream, "Please be after me!!"

She rounds a corner and runs into a locked door, her body slamming against it. _NO!! I'm cursed! _The thunderous steps behind her slow down and stop, a raspy, almost evil breathing replacing the steps.

The new X looks at her and says, "Death..."

__

Oh my god it can speak!

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dusty was thrown into the room with such force, that when he hit the far right wall, it knocked him out.

He groans on the floor and sits up, his chest and neck hurting like hell, _The thing! Where's Claire?!_

The thought hit him like a boulder, which immediately sent him to the door, wanting to see the creature gone or dead, hell he'd settle to see Claire holding her ground against it, but the hall was empty, deep foot marks leading from the destroyed doorway to the corner, but that was it!

"Claire!?" shouts Dusty as he walks down the hall, rounding the corner, and staring blankly at the obliterated door, and the single shell casing lying amidst the rubble.

He picks it up and says, "No. This can't be happening. God help me."

He wasn't a religious man, but he once heard that in a life-or-death situation, a man can obtain faith. It is all he has now, a single piece of hope in a city of death. He drops the spent shell and walks through the door, his eyes laying on what was once a steel wall, but lays now as a pile of torn, bent, and warped metal, a single door to the left of it, and another shell casing near it. It isn't much, but it assures him that Claire is still alive, fighting for her life, but alive none the less. He holds this shell and walks through the door, his hand shakily reaching for his obviously futile weapon against the creature.

He holds it up and examines the room before him: A single TV perched in the corner, static flowing across it, taunting him to change the channel. Next to that lies a small mini-fridge, making this room into the break-room.

He also spots various chairs and stools piled into the corner, and a single body crushed beneath a large steel cabinet, the form one he remembers, "Scott Averment, fifth grade, third seat third row, always talking to himself about random things. Well, at least he doesn't have to suffer his asthma anymore. Rest in peace, well, now it's pieces."

The joke wasn't funny for the situation, but it eased his sense of impending doom, the kind of dread you get while watching a scary movie at three o' clock in the morning with the lights off. He sighs and walks past Scott's body, hoping the next body he sees is one he can't identify.

__

Wait, it's better to know who it is than have the unnamed face sitting in you head for eternity.

He steps through the next large hole into what used to be the boiler room, after going down a few steps. Steam creeps around and through the countless pipes, or what is left of them. Most of the pipes are just twisted pieces of metal, with chunks of what he thinks is skin attached to the jagged points.

__

It is possibly the creature's, but why is there no blood on them!?

A million thoughts race through his mind as he finds a dead end, in every sense of the phrase, the other end of the room covered in steam-dried bodies, the skin wrinkled and sunk in, the clothes bloodstained and rumpled, a few suits torn. His eyes rest on one he hadn't noticed immediately, but his eyes well up with unshed tears as his eyes rest upon the broken form of Jessica Lainen.

"Aw crap, Jess, why you? Now Umbrella has to go down. Of all the innocence in this city, she didn't deserve this the most!"

He pounds his fists into what is left of one of the massive boilers and a sizzling sound fills the air around his hands, the boiler still hot. He pulls his burned knuckles off of the metal and walks back out of the boiler room, his thoughts fixed on Jess and the door he passed on his way down the stairs.

__

Umbrella will pay!

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Drew Fitts drove for what he felt was hours until his car ran out of gas, the engine sputtering to gain a little acceleration, but it's no use. He climbs out of his dead car and walks to the trunk, then pulls off the duct-tape holding it closed. The trunk flies open and he rummages to find his tire iron and the wooden bat tucked in the very back.

"Great, the entire city is dead! I had one more payment on my house, and the whole damn town dies on me! Let's see, my house is... What street is this? Dribble? Ok. . . It's about ten blocks," he taps the tire iron and bat together, "I can make it."

He turns from his dead beat vehicle and walks down the road, listening as the sounds of zombies encumber him.

__

No problems, right?

He has seen enough horror movies to know to go for the head, but he doesn't really know if this is like the movies.

He passes the old movie theater and hears shots, but they die in a blood-curdling scream, "Crap."

A zombie sneaks up behind him and grabs his shoulders, but Drew shoves the bat through its head, killing it instantly.

"Well, it is almost like the movies."

He turns away from the theater and begins to think about how crowded this street was two hours ago, "Damn, this town went to hell in two hours... I hope Hailey is ok."

He thinks about his wife and runs down the street, praying she is alive and well.

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Claire squats down inside the steel oven and prays the new Mr. X has disappeared. She peers through the small window and amazingly, the whole room is empty, save for the three Lickers thrown into the corner, their heads crushed.

__

The creature has so much power, it killed those three with no problem.

She checks her weapon, out of thirteen rounds, only two remain.

__

I hope Dusty was smart enough to get out. Please, be smart!

She pushes the door down and hops out, her legs killing her.

She holds her gun up and begins to think it's all hopeless, "Two rounds and only one hundred thousand zombies and god knows what else out here."

She chuckles to herself and walks through the door opposite the giant hole the new X came through, and obviously left through. She nudges the door open with her shoulder and walks into a burnt hall, the fire that burned this hall possibly coming from the boiler room directly below her, as steam is rising from a hole directly ahead of her.

A hollow, almost crying voice rises from the hole, the voice sounding like Dusty's!

She dives for the hole and says, "Dusty!? You down there?"

Dusty coughs and shouts back, "Yeah! Claire?"

Claire smiles, but it fades as something down in the basement halls tears open, the creature!

"Dusty! Come toward my voice!"

A few pounding footsteps and Dusty is looking straight up at her, a wide-eyed, almost shell-shocked look in his eyes.

"Dusty, jump up, I'll try to pull you up. The creature is closing in on you!"

Dusty nods and disappears down the hall, then runs back and jumps up, his hand clasping hers. He puts one foot on the wall and pushes up, a loud groan flowing from Claire's lips. A wall explodes close to them and the burnt hall shifts to the left, just as Dusty jumps through the hole, rolling to a stop against the wall. Claire looks back to the hole just as the new X walks below her, stops right below the hole and looks to other side, then continues on, a low, almost distressed grunt coming from the beast.

When another explosion causes the hall to slant more to the left, Dusty says, "I think we should leave the hall. Come on, Claire, let's go."

Claire stands up and nods, the front of her shirt covered in blackened wood and paint, "Yeah, we got to find Leon."

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leon slams the butt of the gun across the temple of the zombie and it falls down, paralyzed from the neck down.

It chomps at him uselessly and he steps over it, his boots stepping into a foul-smelling liquid, _Gasoline and blood... Aw SHIT!!!!!_

He charges down the hall as a sound like nails on sandpaper echo behind him. A shockwave blasts into him and a sudden heat brings sweat to his body, then he is propelled forward, flaming debris and a smell worse than the whole damned diseased city flows past him, the smell of death and evil.

__

Who lit the gas? is the only thought that goes through his mind as he crashes through the window, falling the one story to the ground below.

The first thing he feels is pain, then surprise, then a feeling of numbness, _But how does one feel numb?_

As soon as the question leaves his mind, he is encumbered by darkness and silence.

****

Is Leon really dead, knocked out, or just tired? What is this new Mr. X and what does it want? And lastly, will Drew reach his wife in time? Next Chapter:-: Chapter Four: The Nemesis, Reawakened. Review if you want.


	5. The Nemesis, Reawakened

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Resident Evil: No End In Sight To This Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.

****

Chapter Four: The Nemesis, Reawakened

Drew heard the explosion, but couldn't tell where it came from. There is no smoke or flames to locate it, but Hailey is more important that the explosion. He kills another zombie and walks over it, blood and brain matter flowing from its crushed skull.

His face has turned from an expression of confusion to one of fear and anger, _Whoever did this is crazy. Man, I hope Hailey is ok._

He rounds the corner and arrives at the very heart of Riley, Sub Street. This street, which is usually covered with hippies and beatniks, is emptier than a coffee shop next door to a Starbucks. This doesn't really surprise Drew, but the walking death in the form of a dog does. Where it should have skin, only red muscle and sinew show. One ear is missing, the other ear torn in half. Its lower jaw is hanging on by a single muscle fiber, but it is still managing to growl and bark.

It has claws the size of his own fingers, _This thing can't exist! It can't!_

It growls and turns its head toward him, the growl throwing blood and teeth to the ground.

"Aw SHIT!!" shouts Drew as it charges at him.

It is closing fast, much too fast for any animal, even the world's fastest cheetah, _And why am I thinking?!_

He dispenses with his thinking and raises the bat and tire iron, his rational thought gone. As the rabid animal reaches arm's length, a blast knocks it to Drew's left, blood and dog parts slapping against his face and body. He shakily turns to the right and spots his savior, a Latino or Asian man clad in what looks like black armor, kind of like what the man wears in Metal Gear Solid. The man turns to him and loads a cylinder into the barrel of a massive weapon.

The man grunts and closes the barrel, then begins to walk toward him, his eyes darting around the scene, "The city is not safe. You must get out of here, now!"

Drew shakes his head and retorts, "No, my wife is still at our house, I am going to get her."

The man taps the weapon on his shoulder and says, "You live on Salem, right?"

Drew nods slowly and asks, "How did you know?"

The man shakes his head and replies, "I can't tell you, but a fire has engulfed the entire south side of town, your wife is dead."

Drew drops to his knees and shouts, "You lie! She is not dead!"

The man tosses him a camera and says, "Look for yourself."

Drew turns the camera on and sees it, the entire street of Salem burst into flames, then slowly dying away, leaving nothing but charred remains. He drops the camera and lies down on his stomach, heart-wracking sobs shaking his body.

The man scoffs and replies, "Weak. Get over it, women and men pass through this Earth everyday. Geez, you people are weak."

Drew coughs and stands up, pure anger and hate for the man intensifying as the man talks on.

He picks up the tire iron and shouts, "How can you be so COLD-hearted?! I just lost the one woman who really means the most to me and you just laugh? You've never known what it's like to lose the love of your life! I will kill you!"

The man stops laughing and turns to face Drew, and Drew drives the tire iron across the left temple of his head, sending him to the ground, his legs buckling instantly.

Drew drops the iron and shouts, "Fuck you asshole!"

He grabs the man's gun and the round cylinders that he loaded into his gun, then runs down the street, hoping against hope Hailey is alive.

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dusty picks himself from the floor and watches as the floor he was once standing on falls away, along with the entire back half of the hotel. He stumbles back as the floor beneath him begins to crack and crumble and picks up Claire's unconscious body, a small chunk of pipe responsible. He runs, well, limps down the hall and stumbles down the stairs, a sound of plaster and wood splintering following them.

As he rounds the stairs onto the first floor, the entire stairwell shifts considerably, which means one thing, _The entire hotel is collapsing!_

His thought meld into a single racing jumble of words as Claire and he fall down onto the bottom of the hotel, plaster and wood covering them. When the debris settles, Dusty manages to push some of it away, ignoring the sharp, nagging pain in his left leg. He hears Claire grumble near him and he shifts through it, finding her under a pile of crumbled concrete, she's got more luck than he does.

"Wha.. What happened?" mumbles Claire as she rubs her arm and head.

Dusty looks around and says, "An atomic bomb. Well, close enough. The entire hotel just collapsed. You ok?"

Claire shakes her head, concrete dust flying from her hair, "From the explosion? Leon?"

Dusty nods, then shakes his head, "Yes, and no Leon. But I somehow believe the explosion had something to do with him."

Claire laughs, then groans, "I wouldn't doubt it. So, is there anyway out?"

Dusty laughs slightly and replies as he looks around, "Uh, no. We'll have to clear the debris away. You want to help, or should I just have fun?"

Claire rolls her eyes and stands up, then falls back down, "You go ahead."

Dusty smiles and begins to pull wood, concrete, and steel cable away from the doorway.

After what he thinks is hours, the doorway is cleared, "Ah, there. Now, time to take a nap..."

He falls down into the hall and begins to snore lightly.

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

__

Oh, man, where am I? What happened?

Leon groans in pain and anguish, from the fall. He leans up, but he can't move his legs, as he looks down, he growls at his predicament.

"Great, out of all the possible predicaments I could be in, my legs have to be pinned beneath almost the entire hotel."

There is no pain, because his legs are caught beneath about a ton of wood. He looks around and picks up a pipe that is lying near him, then begins to pry his legs free. He finally manages to pry a hole big enough for his legs and stands up, his legs aching finally. Leon groans in aggravation as three different zombies moan behind him, moaning and groaning for his flesh and blood.

__

But you won't get it! taunts Leon as he slams his boot through the closest one's head.

He doesn't stop there, he brings the leg back around and back-flips through the next one, splitting it in half. He then shoves his left hand through the last one's stomach and grabs the spine, then yanks, paralyzing the zombie instantly.

He stomps on its head and walks on, his eyes laying upon an engineless cop-car. He reaches through the shattered rear-windshield and pulls a shotgun from the mass that he guesses what was a cop, the only thing cluing him in is the burnt badge settled in the middle of the gunk.

__

Gross. Seriously, that is gross, even by Umbrella's standards.

He checks the weapon to find it fully-loaded, much to his chagrin. He pries the trunk open with the pipe he is still holding and looks inside, hoping for a box of shells, hell, even a handgun would do. After pulling out the spare tire and tossing the jack away, he finally finds a half-empty box of 12-guage shells. He dives a little longer and finds a small side-pouch to place the shells into.

After he straps it on and dumps the shells, he walks toward the hotel, or the little slice that is left. Some of debris explodes to his left as a leather-clad monstrosity roars and stands up, large chunks of its coat missing.

__

Claire told me about this, Mr. X. Well, I hope you like buckshot.

Going against the voices screaming in his head, he prepares to open fire upon the creature. Before he can pump off a round, Leon is sent flying through the air, but Mr. X is standing where it rose from.

__

Claire, OW DAMN IT, forgot to mention that.

Mr. X roars and shouts, "Death!" and runs at him, a single, purple, snake-like thing pulling up from the ground and sliding back into its left arm.

The purple stuff, _G-Virus!_

The thought hit him like a rock, but he is too late to acknowledge as he is hit with a massive fist, one too large to be human. He slams into what is left of the hotel and falls down, wood and nails tearing at his clothes.

__

What have I gotten myself into?

Mr. X repeats the word and jumps into the air, pulls its fist back, and drops it down two feet from Leon's position. The shockwave pushes Leon into the air, allowing him to pull off two rounds, the buckshot adding a little dark color to the monster's face, but it doesn't flinch, growl, or even acknowledge the pain. Instead it wipes the shot from its face and roars.

God damn.

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thomas groans and opens his eyes, his left eye covered in blood, "Damn, I'll get him."

Thomas Weidick. Special Agent of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service. All of their training couldn't really prepare him, left him almost defenseless, but his time in Iraq and Iran gave him all the training he needs. Damn man took his M79.

__

Shit, now, all I got is a damn pocketknife.

He pulls the large knife from his pocket and flips it open, the factory-fresh blade gleams in the moonlight. He holds it underhand and walks down the street, his head pounding and his entire left side hurting badly. He hears a loud roar and his mind immediately goes through every file he read on Umbrella's bioweapon research.

"Candidate One, T-101, Nope. Candidate Two, Tyrant Retriever, getting closer, ah! Candidate Three, Nemesis-Class Tyrant Retriever. Code Name- Nemesis. They sent it out to retrieve the Genesis Program Data no doubt. Well, that makes things a little difficult."

He stops his thoughts and listens to the silence, _The Nemesis probably killed whoever it was fighting. Hehe, the Nemesis is invincible._

As he says it, his thoughts turn to the Raccoon Nemesis.

__

OK, nearly invincible.

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Claire steps over Dusty's sleeping form and watches as a form flies over her head, then crashes above her, the form none other than, _Leon!_

"Get up Dusty!" shouts Claire as the new X turns toward her.

Dusty grumbles something, then he is right next to her, his mouth agape, "That can't be it."

Leon fires two shots into its face, but it just wipes the shot from his face and roars loudly, the sound rattling their souls. Claire holds up her gun, but Leon is right in front of her, unloading shell after shell into its side, the blasts making it slide back. Under the rubble, Claire spots the top of one of the boilers.

She holds up her gun and fires a round into its metal surface. A resounding clang, than an incredibly loud boom send the new X into the air, its coat ablaze and melting. It flies over the closest building and disappears, dead, hopefully.

Leon loads seven shells into the shotgun and asks, "Is that Mr. X?"

Claire shakes her head and replies, "No, I don't know what that was, but it isn't Mr. X."

Dusty walks between them and shouts, "What the hell is Mr. X.????"

Leon looks at Claire and says, "You haven't told him about X?"

Claire holds her head and says, "Zombie."

Dusty turns and fires, the round shattering the brain upon impact, Leon just looks on stupidly, then retorts, "Oh! That zombie..."

****

WHOO HOO!!! Chapter Four! Now, is the Nemesis dead, or just waiting for its next moment to strike and probably kill them? Chapter Five: She Can't Be dead, Can She? Check back in a while to find it, hopefully. CoRpAsItE


	6. She Can't Be Dead, Can She?

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Resident Evil: No End In Sight To This Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.

****

Chapter Five: She Can't Be Dead, Can She?

Drew looked at his street with stunned belief, the man had been wrong, the street was not on fire, it was just as he left it when he went to work this morning. Only thing different is the occasional rabid Doberman, but other than that, it's normal, almost. He walks up to his house and points the grenade launcher into the open doorway. He finally gains the courage to walk into his living room, the feeling of impending torment and pain growing as he looks in, the living room clean. He sighs loudly and jumps as the window in front of him shatters, glass coating the room. He screams, not from the glass, but from the thing that caused it to shatter, the gray-skin form that was once his wife.

__

You can't be dead!!! screams Drew's mind as he holds up the grenade launcher, then drops it onto the carpet, everything he's known and loved is dead, and nothing can make him feel better, NOTHING!

His wife is now thirteen feet away, her fetid breath barely reaching him. His mind goes over his final speech when he is shoved to the ground, the man from earlier grabs the launcher, then releases the grenade. Drew turns his head and closes his eyes, not wanting to see his wife killed, again. The explosion rocks the house and before Drew can begin to cry, he is picked up and pushed through the house, the man shouting something.

As Drew is pushed into the backyard, one thought screams through his mind, _I hope you rot in hell you fucking asshole!! You killed her!_

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The man, Drew as the name on the desk implies, sits in the yard and screams until his voice goes hoarse.

__

God grow up! People pass through this life everyday! AHH civilians suck!

Thomas clenches his fists and sits the M79 in his lap, "Get up, we have to get out of this city."

Drew stands up and says, his voice cracking, "Who are you?"

Thomas screams inside and replies, "Ok. My name is Thomas Weidick, I was sent in by Umbrella to contain the biohazard outbreak that occurred here this morning."

Drew scoffs and retorts, "I don't believe you. What does a pharmaceutical company have to do with what happened here?"

Thomas laughs and adds, "They caused it. There goes the obscurity clause in my contract!"

Drew sits back on his butt and arches his left eyebrow, "They... caused it? How?"

"You ever heard of... Never mind, you haven't," replies Thomas as he loads a silver grenade into the barrel, then closes it.

Drew jumps up and stumbles, "What the hell is that!?"

Thomas spins around and stares blankly at the sheer beauty of it, the Nemesis in its so-called second form. All of its upper-body leather is melted off, the skin covered in blackened scars, a few rabid tentacles bulging with G-Virus enhanced blood. It grumbles deeply and holds its left palm up, its newest feature emitting from the palm: A two-split tentacle that spins, sending pure G-Virus everywhere.

Thomas holds the M79 up and shouts to Drew, "Run! Go, don't stop running!"

Drew stammers something, then he's gone. Thomas looks at the Nemesis, but it's looking directly in the direction Drew went, almost as if it's after him and any other survivors.

__

Which means I don't have to fight it! Umbrella programmed it to kill any survivors, leaving any Umbrella agent safe as ice in a snowstorm.

He smiles, an extremely evil thought crossing his mind. He holds the M79 and pulls the trigger, the grenade embedding itself into the flesh of the Nemesis. It completely ignores him and walks slowly across the backyard, its entire being focused on Drew! Thomas laughs and pulls out a small cylindrical device, an Umbrella detonator. He flips the cover off, presses the charger, and holds the detonation switch, then the entire left arm exploding in a blast of purple virus. Thomas dives back into the house as the entire yard is encased in the G-Virus.

Thomas immediately reaches into his pouch and pulls out an industrial gas mask, then puts it on, a fine purplish mist filling the house as soon as he gets it on.

__

Ah, so its blood does turn into the G-Virus, or is it the G-Virus?

He stops thinking and watches the Nemesis as it clutches the shoulder and grunts, a tentacle flying out, 'replacing' the arm.

As it wiggles the new 'arm', it growls, "Death to all."

__

What?! It can say more than just one word?!

Thomas can't believe it, but the look in the Nemesis's eyes as it turns to him settles it: Thomas fried its implanted circuitry, now it's just an immortal killing machine, no difference between its target and friendlies.

Thomas fumbles to load another grenade, but a tentacle flies through his right shoulder, _FUCK!_

The pain is excruciating, but he knows what is next. It has infected him, so it's through with him. He's right, the Nemesis snorts and walks off, pursuing its first goal of killing the survivors.

"Man, I can't believe I just became infected. Since I wasn't hurt, I got twelve hours before it takes effect. {GROANS} man, it hurts so bad!"

He pulls himself up with the M79 and shakes the pain off, it slowly subsides after a few steps, soon he is able to act normally again, even having full use of his right arm again.

__

Soon, all will be dead. Even the Nemesis.

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leon stares down at the hole where the boiler was and says, "What the hell was that thing?"

Claire groans and replies, "That was the boiler. I blew it up and the new X went bye-bye."

Dusty heard the sarcasm in her voice, but kept his mouth shut, instead he asks, "Is that your favorite phrase, Leon?"

Leon groans and retorts, "Do you always run over stray animals?"

Dusty holds his heart and snaps, "That hurt! One of the tires exploded! It... WAS NOT my fault!"

Leon stumbles back and falls into the crater, or they think he fell.

"NO! What the hell is this thing!?" comes Leon's voice from the hole, then a loud shriek drowns him out.

Over the dying shriek booms the shotgun, then all sound from the hole dies. Claire and Dusty lean over the edge of the hole, nearly falling in as part of the floor caves in. Leon is sitting on a chunk of the boiler, holding his shotgun with a small grin on his lips.

"Yo! What happened?" asks Dusty as he jumps down.

Leon looks at him and says, "Licker. BIG Licker."

Claire falls behind Dusty and he asks, "What is a Licker?"

Claire sits next to Leon and says, "The thing with the tongue, didn't you kill one in the hotel?"

__

That THING was a Licker?

"Uh, yeah. Is the tongue the reason they're called Lickers?" Dusty whistles as he looks straight up, the crescent moon looking like a sadistic smile amongst the dark storm clouds, almost letting him know he's in hell, or worse.

Claire taps him on his shoulder and says, "We should get back up, your friend might be in trouble."

He'd forgotten about Drew, his best friend ever since they were both in kindergarten, "Yeah, we need to go, he might kill himself to save his wife."

Leon coughs and climbs through the hole, the shotgun strapped to his belt. Claire is next, her limber form quickly crawling over the edge. Dusty looks at the small body crushed beneath the crumbled wall and wishes Jess peace in the afterlife.

As Dusty climbs, lightning flashes down and strikes a transformer, a deep, thumping noise bursting in a flash of sparks. Thunder rolls soon after, then the rain comes, the cold rain that reminds him of his childhood. He manages to grasp a piece of metal and pulls himself up, standing to Claire's back, and his eyes lock on the figure on the back of her jacket, an angel holding a bomb, 'Made in Heaven' stitched underneath it.

__

It fits her, deadly as she is beautiful.

Something roars off to their far left, and all three of them know what it is. The roar dies down to reveal a deep shriek that was covered by the roar. Before Dusty can even think about who it was, he is running through the demolished South Boulevard. His shoes slam into the rain, sending some of it back into the air, slapping him in the face. As he turns onto Shady Grove, he stops dead in his tracks, the creature that Claire and Leon call X standing in front of a house he knows all to well. It screams again, the sound resembling that of a soul caught between hell and life, like it is trying to determine what emotion it feels.

He takes three slow, even steps toward it, then notices what it holds in its hands: Two halves of his friend Drew, his body split evenly down the middle, his internal organs coating the ground and X's arms and hands. X lowers its head into the mess that was once his friend and the sound of meat and bone crunching makes him turn his head away.

__

Oh god, Drew!

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Claire and Leon barely made it onto Shady Grove when they saw it, the new X mutating before their very eyes, a bloodied mass falling from its enlarging hands. The hands tear and split and four long claws and one short one replace them, fresh purple liquid coating them. Six large, thick tentacles fly from its back and slither around furiously, slamming into the concrete and brick walls. Its feet grow inside its boots and shatter them, thick leather flopping in the wind. The 'toes' curl upwards and then slam downward sharply, the shape of them resembling Velociraptor claws.

Its head begins to slide down its chest and melds into its chest, the look of it bringing one word to Leon's mind, _Birkin!_

A large, echoing snapping sound replaces its roars and a new head sprouts from its shoulders, popping up like a push-pop. It opens its mouth and the bottom jaw snaps into place, two large teeth sitting over its top lip. Amongst all this, Leon noticed that Dusty was looking toward them, his eyes closed tightly, his mouth curled into a snarl, almost as if he's trying to fight the reality of the situation.

__

I know how you feel.

The new form of X leans its new head back and shrieks, the sound worse than a thousand Lickers. Leon holds up the shotgun, loading shells into it at the same time, not really sure what he can do. The new X looks at them and a smile creeps onto its lips!!!

It opens its mouth and clearly says, "Die!"

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thomas sat in the alley across from the three strangers and watched the Nemesis mutate, it was the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. When it is over and the Nemesis tells them to die, he takes it as his cue to leave, not wanting to die and become a G-creature too early.

He holds his M79 tightly and whispers, "Birkin is a genius. Well, was a genius, before he died in the Raccoon incident."

He turns onto North Harlem and looks at the business district, more at the Umbrella facility sitting along the horizon, a beacon of escape to all UBCS members, if there were anymore around. He remembers clearly when each of them died, a few he killed himself. Johansen died first, a Re3 got him, tore him in half then ate his head. Smith died next, a Hunter snapped his head off with one swipe, never saw it coming. The last three he killed, they were all bitten, so he couldn't have his own teammates hovering around, it would.. complicate matters slightly. Not that he'd fell sorry for them, no, it's just that he'd have to kill them later, wasting his precious handgun ammo, but he ran out of that after he fought his third Re3. That one was much faster, it took a full clip and a half until he finally got in the fatal hit, right through its brain. Now all he has is his M79 and a rusting combat knife.

__

What a life, what a life.

He smiles at the thought and walks down the street and turns right on Jurassic, the Umbrella facility a quarter of a mile down this street.

He knows its infested with the damned and undead, but all he needs to do is get to the roof, "Then I'll be back in the Philippines sipping an umbrella drink on the beach, as far away from this wretched company as possible."

****

How do like that? Thomas is infected. {Yay!!!!} Dusty just watched his best friend be eaten, and the Nemesis has mutated. With only nine shotgun shells and about fifty handgun bullets left, will Claire, Leon, and Dusty find a better weapon? Leave a review and maybe, just maybe.


	7. No Name Nightmare

****

Resident Evil: No End In Sight To This Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.

****

Chapter Six: No Name Nightmare

Dusty looked at the new form of the X creature in horror, awe, and anger, not really knowing what to do, say, or feel.

His right hand rests on the gun tucked in his holster and one word brings him back to reality, "Die!"

The X said it, but he felt the anger behind it, the anger he is feeling right now. Dusty prepares to destroy the creature, but Claire pulls him back, the three of them jumping into an alley and running through it, a sound of wet silly putty on steel flowing smoothly behind them. Claire shouts something, but Dusty is fully focused on X, as it crashes through the walls, its tentacles flailing wildly. As it runs, its feet tears concrete up and throw it into the air, the veins in its legs pumping with some unknown liquid as it gives chase. Its clawed arms pumping for speed, its claws tearing ruts in the walls before its sides tear them down. Dusty turns from it and rounds the corner, trying hard to remember the street name.

__

Bryan used to patrol this area, but what is the street!? OH! North Harlem! They put the Umbrella facility on this street.

Dusty stops at the noise, or lack thereof from behind him. X stopped chasing after them! But the silence is short-lived, as two or three loud, echoing croaks flow from everywhere at once.

"Oh what now?" groans Leon from in front of him.

Dusty looks up and opens fire at the green creature jumping off the roof of the old textile factory. It brandishes its three-clawed hands and slams it into the ground before his feet. Before Dusty can even tell what is happening, the beast has him pinned to the ground and his gun is empty. __

Aw give me a break!

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leon watched it fall, pin Dusty to the ground, and raise its left arm, preparing to kill him. Claire hands him her handgun and he takes aim, his crosshairs aimed for its forehead. He pulls the trigger and the frog-creature flies back, blood coating the ground quickly. Lightning strikes at it jumps back up, the rain giving it a ghostly feel. Leon doesn't take another second, pulling the trigger until the creature stops moving and the clip is empty. He pulls the empty clip out and hands the weapon back to Claire, his left hand reaching for his shotgun.

__

Come on, get up Dusty, get UP!

Dusty sits up and his head slowly turns to the left, his eyes growing wide as another loud croak rises in the direction Dusty is looking. Leon brings the shotgun up and around, and pumps off three rounds as he runs toward it. The first two blasts pepper the creature's face and chest, the third tears the flesh from its forehead, revealing slick white bone underneath. As he runs closer to it, he turns the shotgun around and slams it into the beast's face, caving it in. The beast croaks loudly, then it slams into the concrete, dead on impact. Leon screams at it and drops the shotgun, then commences to maniacally kick the beast repeatedly. After the rage is gone and a sharp pain runs up and down his leg, Leon sits down promptly.

__

God, why do you hate me so?

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Claire watches Leon proceed to beat the living hell out of the new creature. She walks up to him as he sits down and stares at the dead carcass lying before him.

Leon looks up at her quickly and asks, "How's Dusty?"

Claire looks at Dusty and replies, "I think he's shocked, pissed, hurt, and confused. Other than that, I'd say he's fine."

Leon nods and stands up, picks the shotgun up, and loads three more shells into it.

Claire holds the handgun on her hip and asks, "How many you got left?"

Leon looks into his side-pack and replies, "Three. Great huh?"

Claire scans the rooftops for anymore movement, but finds it clear, for now.

Claire turns toward Dusty and asks, "Do you know where the Umbrella facility is?"

Dusty stands up and retorts, "Why bother? The entire facility is bound to be overrun, just like this city. Every mode of transportation is either destroyed, or powerless. And we have next to nothing for ammo. I got six rounds left, Leon has ten shells, and you have a full clip. Why bother?"

Claire is speechless, as she is sure Leon is as well.

Dusty groans and reaches for his gun, takes out the clip, and hands it to Claire, "Here, I'm going off on my own. I'll check to see if the old station has anything for weapons, and don't try to talk about coming with me. You two need to destroy Umbrella, I have to try and save my town."

With that, Dusty is gone, leaving Claire and Leon stumped, clueless, and pretty much awe-struck by his stupidity.

Leon holds up the shotgun and replies, "He's nuts."

And with that final phrase, the two of them walk toward the Umbrella facility looming in the distance.

__

Take care, you nutcase.

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thomas slammed his shoulder into the door for the fifth time, but it still won't budge. He contemplates using one of his frag-grenades, but leans against it as he locates the card-reader.

"Ah, finally! They hide this thing well."

He fumbles through his little emergency pack for the override card. Thomas looks around at a sudden noise, then slides the card through. Sparks and smoke fly from the device and the door flies open, nearly slamming through the wall. He laughs slightly and steps in, his hand immediately reaching for his M79, the feel of Death and Evil heavy in the air. He scans the room and his eyes lay on a completely red Umbrella logo plastered on the far wall.

"Ah, welcome to Red Umbrella! Home to zombies, HKs, BOWs, Re3s, and other things that go BOOM in the night."

Thomas laughs at that, his laugh carrying through the empty lobby, making the room seem much, much larger than it actually is. He randomly picks a door, his mind finding where it leads: T-Virus storage, third floor. He opens it and the smell floors him, a smell of month-old decay and rotting meat.

__

But this place was built three weeks ago. They must have brought a zombie from the Herron facility.

As the door closes in front of him, two distinct voices enter the lobby. His mind races and he dives behind the desk, landing head first into a pile of blood and guts, perfect cover! He looks under the bottom of the desk and sees two pairs of boots walk in, one pair small, brown leather. The other are gray, almost black leather, the laces almost touching the floor.

A male coughs and says, "Who the hell took a shit and let it sit for a month?"

__

Well, he got the time down, not so sure about the topic.

A female voice chimes in a little while later, "Look, Leon, a scientist, it looks like he's still breathing!"

Thomas curses himself for not spotting and killing him earlier, but it's in the past.

Black boots, Leon, walks toward the brown boots and asks, "Hey, you alive?"

The scientist groans and jumps up, his white, blood-stained sneakers stepping around wildly.

"What? Who are you two? How are you alive?" stumbles the man as he runs around spastically.

Leon walks cautiously up to the man and slowly states, "I am Leon Kennedy, I am here to help, and this is Claire Redfield, and we have survived this long because we have..."

The girl Claire cuts in, "We have gotten lucky. Who are you?"

The scientist taps his left foot on the floor and replies, "I am Michael Jones. Do, you have any clue as to what happened here?"

Michael's voice had an air of cautiousness in it as Claire replies, "No, but the entire city is overrun with zombies. Do you know what happened?"

Michael is shuffling his feet like he is frantically trying to find a lie, then slyly retorts, "No, I was asleep when Umbrella called me to work, I forgot I had an extra shift," his next words make Thomas nearly have a heart attack, "did you see that man that was in here?"

Leon turns toward the desk and says, "No, where did he go?"

Michael points his left foot to the desk and Thomas jumps up, his M79 pointed at the trio, "Stay where you are! Toss your weapons toward me!"

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dusty finally made it to the old police station, but it isn't what he thought it was going to be. He expects to see a cache of weaponry and tanks, but instead he finds an old, decrepit, and ransacked building.

"Aw fudge," wasn't what he wants to say, but it is all that really comes to mind at the time.

He pushes open the door and is relieved at what he sees: A hundred or so locked cabinets lining the far wall. He runs up to one and shoves the barrel of his gun through the loop of the combination lock, pushes up, and laughs as the lock and chain falls away, sliding down the cabinet with ease. He pulls the doors open and nearly bursts into tears and sobs at what is before him. He runs to the next one and pries it open: The same as the other one.

"All of them are the same!!!" shouts Dusty as he drops to his knees, each and every cabinet empty, not even a speck of dust.

He slams his left fist onto the tile and suddenly remembers his old locker, the only one hidden behind the destroyed boiler. He runs behind the wood-rotten desk and shoves his shoulder into the door, and miraculously bounces off, his head and back slamming into the tile. He screams loudly and looks up at the ceiling, at the lizard-like creature attached to it, at the being that could only exist in hell.

__

Well, welcome to hell, population, me.

The creature bellows deeply, the sound shaking his body horribly. It looks at him and drops, its body spinning with the grace of water, the movement smooth and flawless. Dusty rolls out of the way as it crashes down exactly where he once was sitting, then it is up and chasing him.

"Oh I'm going to die! Forgive me anyone that I could have saved!"

At this point, Dusty is kicking his own ass for two reasons, one, he shouldn't have given Claire the last of his ammo, two, the creature is gaining on him.

Dusty looks back and the creature jumps on him, the weight and momentum carrying him to the ground, knocking the wind from him. The creature bellows again, its breath without smell or taste, then it raises one deformed hand.

__

This is it,thinks Dusty as he struggles to free one hand.

The creature locks gazes with him and begins to throw its hand down, then it is blown off of him, blood coating Dusty's face and chest.

"Thought you could use a little help!" replies Bryan Scott as he walks from the locked door, sniper rifle in hand.

Dusty rises to his feet and stares at Bryan, then he slowly says, "Damn glad to see you, boy! How the hell did you survive? You know what happened to Jess?"

Bryan's gaze lowers and he replies, "The entire SWAT unit took what was left of us and brought us here, that thing I just killed got everyone but me and Jess. Jess went off to the hotel to help the survivors. We got a transmission from John in the hotel. You know if she's still alive?"

Dusty looks at his own feet and replies, "She's dead. In the bottom of the hotel. The boiler ruptured, killing everyone."

Bryan nods and grabs Dusty's arm, "Follow me. We need to get you a new weapon. What's your death?"

Dusty thinks about Jess and replies, "You got anything in a machine gun or grenade launcher? Wait, where are you getting the weapons from?"

Bryan pushes a door open and pulls a handgun from his hip-holster, "Your locker. Hope you don't mind."

Dusty looks behind them and then turns to his locker, the door nearly pried off from its hinges, "You couldn't look in the vent for the key?"

Bryan grumbles something about a nemesis and hands Dusty a M16 and a M203 tear-gas gun. Dusty drops the M203 and takes three clips for the M16.

__

Oh yeah, Umbrella, you're going down now, thinks Dusty as he slams a clip in, then loads the weapon.

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Claire stares at the blood-covered man as he walks around the desk, the grenade launcher aimed at them.

He looks at the three of them with a keen eye and says, "So, Umbrella haters huh? I got my eye on you three, make any sudden moves, and BAM, you're all dead. Hey! Drop the weapon or there'll be black meat for dinner."

Michael tosses the handgun at him and says, "Racist huh? I hope the crows get you."

The man laughs and kicks the weapon away from them, "Just so none of you try anything stupid."

He picks Claire's handgun from behind him, making sure to keep the grenade launcher in their direction, then shoots Claire in the left arm. The pain is something terrible, sending her to the ground, her right hand clutching the wound tightly.

Leon begins to run to her, but the man fires a round right at his feet, "No! You stay where you are!"

Claire's face flushes from the pain, from the blood flowing from her arm, hell, from all of it. She looks through pain-stricken eyes at Leon and nods.

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leon couldn't believe it! The bastard shot Claire!

__

I'll kill him! I'll tear him limb from limb and feed him to the Lickers and what-ever the hell is out there.

He clenches his teeth and keeps his gaze on Claire as her face begins to contort back and forth from a half-hearted smile to pain.

She nods at him, _There's no way I'm leaving you here!_

He shakes his head, oblivious to the pair of black combat boots walking toward him until a weapon is cocked.

"Die asshole!" shouts Michael as he dives for his handgun and spins around, his left foot pressing against the wall.

The man laughs and holds the grenade launcher in his direction and asks, "You want to rethink that?"

Before Michael can laugh, Leon takes the handgun from the man's grip and shoots him in both legs, a smile plastered on his lips as he falls over. He picks Claire up and nods at Michael to grab the guns. When they're ready, and the man is unconscious from the blood-loss, they run out into the street, hopefully towards the old police station.

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bryan couldn't believe it, and still doesn't believe it, Jess is dead.

She was like a sister to him, _She was a sister to me..._

Now wasn't the time to remorse, as harsh as it may sound, remorse can get you killed in a situation like this.

Dusty steps up to him and says, "Hand me the .220 and three clips."

Bryan mechanically retrieves the items from the almost empty locker and say, "Jess shouldn't have died, no one should have died."

Dusty places a hand on his shoulder, his grip a little firmer and says, "I know, let's go."

Bryan can't believe it, this is possibly the safest place in the city and he wants to leave it?

"No, we stay here! This is as safe as we'll be!"

Dusty hangs his head and retorts, "We stay here and we die! There's no food, I don't trust the water, and there's God-Knows-What-Else in here, so I say, we go out now, kill everything, and make our way out of the city. Hand me that case of shotgun shells."

Bryan bends down to grab them, then the ground beneath him shakes, cracks, and falls away, something horrible underneath growling in anticipation of its next meal.

As he grabs his rifle and the case of shells he shouts, "Here! Take the shells and run!"

Dusty shouts something and gunfire is heard from above, just as a lot of sharp things clasp around his waist and chest, the pain intense. He screams and opens fire on the brown thing in front of him, the orb turning this way and that.

As the pain leaves his body, more darkness fills his thoughts and vision, "GO!"

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dusty watched as something pulled Bryan down, his hands turning to the handgun next to him, "You hang on! I'll kill it!"

He knows it's false, but he needed something to say to keep Bryan alive. He aims the gun to the left of Bryan's body and pulls the trigger, once, twice, three times. The rounds ricochet off the body and dig into the walls of the tunnel. Bryan screams, then silence, freaky, almost scary silence, the kind that tells you he's dead. As he turns, a case of shells scoot next to his feet, blood covering the hand grip. Dusty picks them, the machine gun, and a bag and runs out of the police station. He bursts through the front doors to run smack into Leon and Claire. Leon stumbles back, but a scientist holds him steady.

Dusty falls onto his ass and slides down the steps, "Ow! What happened to Claire?"

Leon grimaces and lays her down onto the top of the steps, blood drying on her dirty skin, almost covering the bullet wound three inches above her elbow.

"Aw man, we need to get her to a clinic or hospital," replies Dusty as he drops the weapons, reaching into his back pocket for something.

He pulls out a wet-napkin pack and tears it open, getting a weird look from the scientist, "What? I like to be clean when I eat."

The scientist looks away as Dusty cleans the area around the wound, then tears the bag into three thick strips.

He wraps them around her arm and sits back, "That should hold for a while, Leon, there are some shotgun shells right there."

Leon bends down and picks the case up, then dumps some shells into his side pack.

Dusty looks at the scientist and offers a hand, "I'm Dusty Stracener."

The scientist shakes his hand and replies, "Michael Jones."

Dusty releases the grip and says, "We should go Leon. I think there's a clinic next to the Umbrella Facility."

Leon nods and hefts Claire up, but she places a hand on his chest, "I got shot in the arm, not the leg. I can walk."

Leon nods and places her on her feet.

She stumbles, but she's good to go, her right hand picking up her handgun, "Anyone got a spare clip?"

Leon opens the shell case and says, "How many you need, there's like four clips and about fifty shells."

Claire takes them, slides them into her back pockets and all four of them jump as a loud, soulless shriek pierces the silence, causing them to raise their weapons.

Dusty saw it as it fell from the roof of the old police station, its back and legs tearing down the front of the building, sending brick, plaster, and paint raining upon them. It lands with a grunt and extends to its full height, its tentacles flaring madly. It raises one clawed hand and literally licks its middle one, the blood dripping from it. It grunts and groans, the stitching over its right eye splitting open, revealing a large, red eye, the pupil a dark color, almost black in essence. The eye lands on Dusty and it roars loudly, its teeth growing, forming a razor-sharp hole of death and pain. He raises the M16 and aims for the red orb, but something wet and thick picks him up, his head slamming into the concrete. He passes into unconsciousness as his gaze meets the creature's.

He remembers what Bryan said and thinks, _Nemesis..._

****

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leon held up the shotgun, then decides against it, his hand changing for the handgun. He aims for the red, demonic eye and pulls the trigger. The stitched skin closes around it and the round bounces off harmlessly.

__

Aw shit on wheat toast, thinks Leon as he looks at it as it holds Dusty's limp body upside down, blood trickling from a head wound.

Its mouth opens, the jaws dislocating, opening big enough to eat a full-sized car! It raises Dusty higher, higher, and higher still, then a sharp bang severs the tentacle. Dusty's body slams into the creature's chest and rolls along the ground, resting silently at Claire's feet. Leon turns to Michael, his smoldering weapon in steady hands.

He turns to Leon and says, "Get them out, I'll hold it off."

Leon shakes his head and pulls the shotgun up, his aim locked on its head. He pulls the trigger, pumps the stock, pulls the trigger, and continues this line of fire while reloading in between shots. After the first seven, the lead begins to take effect, the creature stumbling backwards. It slams into the wall and rests silently, a little TOO silent for Leon's taste. He picks up Dusty's machine gun and unloads the entire clip, all sixty rounds, into what's left of its head, purple matter spraying the wall around the deformed skull. With a sick crunch, the head explodes, the sound of ricocheting bullets replacing it. Leon drops the spent weapon and screams in rage, which quickly passes as Claire looks at him, Dusty, then the dead creature.

A feeling of slight bliss fills him as he looks at Claire, but Michael kills it with his next sentence, "There's a few more of those. They want my project, Genesis."

Leon arches his left eyebrow, drops his jaw, and asks, "Excuse me?"

****

For anyone who read the review page, I know, I lied. I obviously got my computer working. Now, just what is Genesis? Is the Nemesis dead? The answer is YES! It's headless! Next Chapter:-: Chapter Seven: G-Virus. It'll be up in a while, so keep a lookout for it. Konnichiwa and review, if you want.


	8. G Virus

Resident Evil: No End In Sight To This Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.

****

Chapter Seven: G-Virus

Hahahaha. The fools, they have no idea that they have brought on their own deaths. Can I get up yet?

Thomas couldn't believe it, not even seven minutes after he was shot, the G-Virus pumping through his veins has healed the wounds. He jumps to his feet and searches for his grenade launcher, soon finding it tucked underneath a broken bench. He picks it up and takes out the empty shell, laughing to himself at how he fooled them with an empty weapon.

"Leon... I'll kill him!" shouts Thomas as he jams another grenade into the barrel, almost causing it to explode.

He closes the barrel and looks at the powerless computer monitor, his mind trying to figure out what path he needs to take to go straight to the roof. He chooses the east hall and runs through the door, his shoulder dislocating from the hit. He rolls across the blood-stained tile and slams knees-first into the farthest wall. He holds his left shoulder and shoves it up, the ball slamming back into place. He stands up and opens the closest door, his hand twitches on the handle and a gunshot rings off the door.

Another bug in my way.

He shakes his head and pushes the door all the way open, then fires a grenade into it. The walls and floor rumble as it explodes, possibly killing the person inside. When the smoke clears, he pushes the door open yet again, looking at the fried remains of a U.B.C.S. member stuck in the farthest corner. Thomas stares into his eyes, trying to place who it was.

Thomas gives it up and snorts, _Shouldn't have tried to shoot me..._

He stops as he hears it, a soft whisper, "He.. Help me.. me... Weid... Weidick, help... me..."

Thomas places a fake frown on his face and says, "Ah man, what happened? Damn man, this looks bad.."

He coughs up blood, or the dark thick liquid that was once blood, "Some... someone.. Tried to... tried to kill me..."

Thomas searches his burnt body and says, "I don't think I can move you without causing you great pain. I guess I'll end it right now, hmm?"

He says the last sentence with such loss of emotion, the look in the UBCS's eyes nearly made him die from delight. He grabs the soldier's handgun and places the barrel firmly over the spot where his heart should be. He begins to pull the trigger, but a BIG firm grip wraps around his waist.

As the wind is forced out of him, Thomas remembers one very vital piece of information, _There's more than one Nemesis Tyrant!_

He manages a look back and it dawns on him, this one is meant to kill all UBCS soldiers! The new Nemesis growls and raises its left arm, the mechanisms built into its arm groaning.

Oh damn it, it's one of the cybernetic models. I'm screwed, I'm screwed.

Thomas holds up the M79, closes his eyes, and pulls the trigger.

--

****

Dusty listens closely to the sounds around him, each one compounding his concussion. After a while of indeterminable talk, he opens his eyes, then immediately closes them again, the light too bright for his taste.

He groans and asks, the words slightly slurred, "Where am I?"

A soothing voice, Claire's voice turns to him and she says, "You're on the second floor with me, Michael and Leon are downstairs, searching for more things to kill, I guess."

If he could, Dusty would laugh, but all he can ask is, "Michael? Who's that?"

He can feel the concern fill the room as Leon walks in, "You awake? Good, Claire, we got to move out, we found tunnels all through the foundation of the building."

Claire nods and Dusty sits up, his arm instinctively going to the back of his head, which is all gummy and sticky. He looks around, but all he sees is a bunch of colors and shapes, "Ah man, can you three wait a minute? Unless you want to guide me by hand out of here."

Leon looks at him with a slight air of humor and replies, "Yeah, sit down. Hey, Claire, can I speak with you outside?"

Claire drops the wet rag and steps out, Leon not too far behind. As Dusty turns around on the table he's sitting on and stares at Michael, who is in turn, staring back at him.

After a few tense moments, Michael speaks up, "So, what's your story?"

Dusty shakes his head to break the haze overcoming him and replies, "I'm a cop, was heading home, got caught in this mess, and here I am. How about you?"

Michael checks his gun and replies, "Was at the police station, helping with the wounded. We got overrun by zombies and something new, it looked like a giant worm. That worm alone nearly wiped out half the force. A few others and I nearly died trying to get through the kennels, but the dogs kept letting us know when there was a zombie close by. I finally got out, when the last cop threw himself into a zombie, right after he threw me his gun. After that, well, I made it back here and got knocked out when one of the canisters in the lobby exploded."

Dusty nods and reaches for his handgun, checks the clip, then drops it and reaches for another one.

He jackets a round and looks back at Michael, "What you think they're talking about out there?"

Michael shrugs and jokingly says, "Probably on which one of us to kill first."

Dusty arches his eyebrows in mock surprise and replies, "I hope it isn't me!"

They both laugh as the two walk in, a look of concern shared between their faces.

Michael gets up and walks past Dusty, saying, "Told you," as he walks near him.

Dusty laughs and stops suddenly, his laughter compounding his concussion.

Man, my life has gone down the toilet in a matter of hours.

--

****

Leon looks at the two men and sighs slowly, what he's about to say is going to be hard, "Hey, guys, we're not leaving this building."

He observes the look of sheer shock and utter confusion on their faces.

He sighs inward and replies, "The thing we fought and killed, there's another one down stairs, one on this floor, and one on the floor above..."

He is cut off as loud, thundering bumps rock the whole room, the sounds coming from above. Dusty begins to say something, but Michael clasps a hand over his mouth. The boot-steps slow and then stop, directly above the group, loose plaster falling from the ceiling. Dusty looks straight up and closes his eyes, then the rest of them jump out of their skins as he sneezes. Three quick steps, then a roar let them know they've been found.

They walk silently to the door, but large chunks of tile, plaster, and other materials rain down upon them, the creature falling in the middle of it, his knees bending and his left fist slamming into the tile, his right fist brought back, ready to strike anything that is in the room. Leon holds up the shotgun, but he is pulled through the door, the rest of the group on his heels. He spins around and slams into Claire's back, her body stiff as a board.

He looks past her and stumbles, "Fuck me sideways..."

--

****

Thomas back flips as the Nemesis punches the ground he once occupied, concrete and tile filling the air. He slides back and releases the grenade, smiling as it explodes and metallic parts and body pieces fly, the left arm and one third the chest blown apart.

"All that strength and you fall apart with one grenade."

The Nemesis growls in pain and throws its right arm around wildly, the fist slamming into walls, tables, and liquids alike. Thomas loads the launcher again and takes aim, the crosshairs aimed at the single cataract-white eye, which has landed on him. He pulls the trigger and drops the weapon in amazement, the Nemesis has moved to the right slightly, the grenade passing through the hole where his chest once was, exploding upon contact with the wall.

Oh shit.

He fumbles for the handgun, but finds it lying in temptation across the room. He curses his odds again and holds up his fists, it isn't enough, but he just wasted his last grenade. The Nemesis takes two steps forward, putting him a mere six inches from him, then stops, its head pointed toward the door. Thomas backs up a little and stares at it, trying his damnedest to figure out what is happening, then the Nemesis runs through the wall and out into the street.

Thomas watches as it disappears and grabs his gun, then searches the dead UBCS member for any ammunition, coming up with half a clip. He slides it into his belt and walks through the hole, heading in the direction of the airport, where he hopes there's a plane on the runway.

--

****

Michael can't believe it, after coming so far, he's finally betrayed by the company he has served for over eleven years. Leon and he stare at the one in front of them, as Claire and Dusty stare down the other two.

Leon pumps the stock and says, "We are screwed."

Michael and Dusty stand back to back and watch as the two monsters look right at them, their fists clenching and relaxing, filling the building with a loud, squeaking sound.

Dusty turns to Michael and says, "How about we call these things, Nemesis? After the Greek God of Righteous Vengeance?"

Michael arches one dark eyebrow and retorts, "Are you crazy?"

Dusty tightens his grip on the M16 and says, "You tell me," then drops it. "I give up!"

The Nemesis in the shortened coat steps forward and raises its left fist, then throws it forward. Dusty's eyes close and he jumps to the right, missing the fist by inches. He grabs the M16 and holds it up, then the other Nemesis pushes him through the wall.

As Dusty's head pounds, he thinks, _Great, just great._

_--_

****

Thomas holds his arm as it twitches violently, the veins fluctuating frequently. He grits his teeth and picks his way through the cop bodies lying in the street, coming up empty. He growls and kicks a body, watching in awe as it flies into the air and lands on a car thirty feet down the street.

He smiles and says, "Oh yes. This I like."

He turns back into the alley he clambered through and prepares to go through, then stops, a smell rising to his nostrils, over the smells of decaying bodies and burning wood.

"Ah, fresh gunpowder... Uh oh."

He starts to run, but the alleyway in front of him explodes into flames, a faint laughing sound trumpeting over the crackling flames, "Rot in Hell, you Umbrella FREAK!"

Thomas watches the figure sway as he laughs and he walks toward him, the flames searing his clothes and flesh. The man gasps and turns to run away, but Thomas grabs him by the throat, picking him up as he steps right behind him.

The man gags and gasps as Thomas leans in, his mouth right by the man's ear, "You think it's funny to set people on fire, do you? Well, how about I set YOU on fire?"

The man gasps as Thomas places a grenade in the man's belt, then breaks his arms. The man falls on the ground and flails around as Thomas steps back, pulling out the handgun at his side.

He raises it and aims at the grenade, "Boom."

He pulls the trigger and before the grenade can explode, Thomas is gone.

Ok, after taking into consideration a few reviews I've gotten lately, I hope this is better. Review if you like, CoRpAsItE.


	9. Genesis

****

Resident Evil: No End In Sight To This Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.

****

Chapter Eight: Genesis

Leon picks Dusty up and fires on the creature, the shotgun flailing around in his grip. Michael grabs the M16 from the rubble and jumps into the corner, firing at the short-coated one. Dusty stands up and holds up his handgun, his vision blurred greatly. Leon taps him on the shoulder and jumps on top of him, just as a big leather fist flies around.

Dusty groans and doesn't move as Leon stands up, loading the shotgun as he does so. He jumps back to avoid a swinging punch and jumps right into the grip of another creature, this one missing an arm.

__

Another one? Aw DAMN IT!!!!!!!!

It begins to squeeze him as it growls, the sound shaking his insides. He feels a rib crack and two more break as gunfire fills his ears, and then nothing, as the floor below them gives from the massive weight. Leon is able to breathe as the arm loosen its grip, then pain washes over him, since he just slammed chest-first onto the floor below.

He stands up, but is forced back down again as a foot is pressed into his back. The wind is violently forced from his lungs as he feels two more ribs crack. Claire screams to his left and another wall explodes, coating the entire room in a white cloud. Leon screams as the boot is pushed down harder, then it loosens considerably, and the room is shaken as something big falls down.

__

What now?

--

Thomas can't believe it! He just kicked a Nemesis and it fell over! He continues to kick its head until it flies off, sparks flying from the cybernetic parts.

__

Hehe, cyborgs suck as BOWs.

He turns around as another Nemesis punches him in head, sending him back into another one, which punches him as well, sending fresh waves of pain wracking through his body. Thomas jumps to his feet and spins around, driving his heel into the stomach of the Nemesis, smiling as its side caves in.

__

Oh... Pretty...

He drops to his knees as a great big fist flies above him, slamming into the wall. He places his right hand on the ground and pushes up, driving his foot into its chin. The Nemesis stumbles, and then falls over, nearly crushing the brown-haired man. He jumps into the air and lands on the Nemesis's head, crushing it on impact. He looks around, and jumps into the air, driving his left knee into the last one's face, tearing its jaw off.

He doesn't waste time, as he places the barrel against the roof of its mouth, keeping himself in the air with a grip of its trench-coat. He drains the clip and they both fall over, Thomas landing with his feet planted on its chest, a satisfied grin on his face. He breathes in contently and looks around as four guns are aimed at his head.

"I save your asses and this is the thanks I get? I'll never understand the human race."

He drops to his butt and spins his legs around, tripping all four of them.

He stands up, prepared to kill them all, when a voice enters his head, "**No, you don't want to kill them yet, they'll lead you to a bigger prize.**"

Thomas looks around and asks, "Who are you?"

The voice laughs and replies, "**Just call me your inner conscience.**"

Thomas has to laugh at this, then runs out, leaving his four prizes to groan in pain. He jumps at the window and kicks it open, glass flying everywhere. He lands on the ground and stands up to face a zombie.

It's fetid breath washes over him and he smiles, "I see you had the fried fish hmm?"

He then shoves the base of his palm into its nose, killing it instantly. He steps through its body and looks around, his eyes resting on the constant smoke stream from the steel-refinery. A sick and evil smile crosses his lips and he takes off, his boots pounding the pavement hard.

__

I know where you are, my inner conscience...

--

"And THAT was?" is the first question to leave Dusty's lips as he grabs his handgun from the innards of one of those creatures.

He takes out the clip and groans in disgust as the bullets roll out, the clip bent out of shape and filled with blood.

He reaches for a fresh one as Claire replies, "Someone we met a little while back. But he's strong as shit this time. Leon, you ok?"

Leon stands up, his bottom lip bleeding profusely, "Yeah, I'm fine... How about you, Michael? Michael?"

Michael calls out from under a pile of debris and they pull pieces off of him, "I think I got hit the hardest... Are my fingers bleeding?"

Dusty pulls him up and says, "You're fine. Now, what next?"

Leon and Claire look around and Leon replies, "Dunno... Claire?"

Claire shakes her head and says, while yawning, "I want to sleep. But, seeing as we're stuck in a hellhole where SLEEP is nonexistent, I'm screwed either way. Michael?"

Michael checks his gun and says, "Don't look at me. Mr. Officer over there knows this town better than all of us."

Leon looks around uneasily and Claire responds, "No, we do, this is almost an exact model of Raccoon City. Behind this building is the church, across from that is the cemetery, and beyond that is the water-treatment plant. And Leon, how much farther north of us is the Police Station?"

Leon chuckles and replies, "Seventy meters."

Michael looks at Dusty and he nods, "They're right. But to prove it, Leon, what is one mile east from here?"

Leon smiles like a big kid and replies, "The Gun Shop."

Dusty nods and replies, "Pretty impressive."

Leon walks toward Michael and Dusty and replies, "Now, I say we try to find a ride and get out of here. Where does the subway go to?"

Dusty smiles and looks up, "Don't you know?"

Leon frowns and replies, "Nope, you little smartass. Raccoon didn't have subways."

Dusty laughs and replies, "It ends near the church, somewhere in between the hospital and the cemetery."

Claire nods and looks at Leon, who's lost in thought.

He shakes his head and replies, "Sorry, was just think we'd probably hit the gun shop along the way, considering this happened too damn fast, maybe they'd have something."

Dusty looks at the M16 and says, "Claire, that's empty."

She arches an eyebrow and looks at the gun, "Hmm, I guess so. Ok, anyone got a spare clip for the handgun?"

Michael tosses one at her and looks around, "Hey guys, was that wall covered in blood before?"

They all spin their heads toward and Michael laughs, "Gotcha!"

Dusty places the barrel of his gun against Michael's left temple and growls, "Not. Funny. Got it?"

Michael gulps, then sighs as the barrel is pulled away, the hammer returning back to its original position.

Dusty slides the gun into his holster and Leon says, "Let's move out."

--

"You have got to be kidding me... Well damn..."

Thomas looks at the river of molten steel and watches as it burns its way down the street slowly...

He looks at the clock inside the building to his left and sighs, "It moves SO slow. I clock it at three centimeters a minute. OH!! A brand new land-speed record!"

"**Get going, NOW!**"

"Oh shut up you."

Thomas rolls his blood-shot eyes and walks toward the steel-refinery.

__

I am going to rip your eyes out and let you see yourself when I find you.

He steps away from the molten river of metal and walks through the side door, the heat singeing his face and arms, turning them almost black. He looks around and jumps straight up, landing on the catwalk as one of the pools overflow, pouring molten steel over what was left of safe flooring. He smiles as flames lick the walls then walks down the catwalk, stopping as it sways every seven steps. He reaches the door on the other end and places a hand on the knob, his sensitive ears picking up a dog whining.

__

Who the hell keeps a dog in a steel refinery?

He turns the knob and the door flies open, a zombified dog pouncing on him.

He holds its head back with both hands and says, "You're a feisty one," then snaps its neck.

He stands up and pushes it off into the pool of steel, smiling as it bursts into flames almost instantly.

__

This is probably one of the worst jokes ever, but here goes. Now that is one HOT dog.

He cringes at the bad joke and walks into the door, surveying the small office. On the wall to his left, a single desk, lamp, and chair. To his right, a row of monitors, each one pointed at a different room of the refinery.

"Now, I can watch them enter. If they do..."

The voice picks up yet again, "**They will, trust me...**"

Thomas growls at it and plops down in the chair, grabs the remote, and sighs, "Perfect, I could be out killing things, but that'd make it easier for them to get here, which means less bloodshed, which I can't have."

He laughs and leans back in the chair, then screams as he falls backward.

"Damn chairs..."

--

Dusty looks at the headless zombie, at his smoking gun, then at Leon and Claire.

He sighs and asks, "If they're dead, is it still called murder?"

Leon and Claire shrug and Michael replies, "Stop asking stupid questions."

Dusty tilts his head as the three walk past and he says, "I wasn't kidding. I want to know. Hey, where are you going? The subway is that way."

Leon turns around, "True, but the gun shop is this way."

Dusty rolls his eyes and retorts, "But the subway is faster."

Claire laughs as Leon stops dead in his tracks.

He is silent for a while, then replies, "Oh yeah. Hehe, don't say shit."

He directed that last sentence at Michael, who had his hand up and his mouth open. He lowers his hand and closes his mouth, then looks around.

Dusty looks at Leon and says, "Now who's the smartass?"

Claire laughs again as Leon clenches his teeth, then growls loudly as he stomps down the stairs to the subway station.

Dusty looks at Claire and Michael, then asks, "He wants to kill me, doesn't he?"

Claire shrugs and walks down the stairs, soon followed by Leon and Michael.

As Claire rounds the corner and Michael whispers, "He might want to kill you, but I want to annihilate you."

Dusty stops and waits until he rounds the corner, "He's kidding, right?"

A scurrying sounds echoes behind him and he draws his gun, only to see that it was a rat. He sighs and turns around, screaming at the face in front of him.

Michael smiles and says, "Gotcha again," then walks off.

Dusty stands up and shouts, "Jackass!!"

A zombie moans from the top of the stairs and Dusty slides down the bottom steps, and runs to catch up with Leon, Claire, and Michael.

__

God I hate this town, and the people in it...

--

"So soon. Soon, Weidick will have his enemies, and then some."

Justin Leach turns from the monitor and looks at the single sheet-covered figure on the tables. He snaps a pair of latex gloves on and looks at the tools before him.

He cracks his knuckles and grabs a huge hacksaw, then carves into the chest of the figure, "Give me six hours, and Genesis will be operational."

He drops the hacksaw and wheels a barrel near the table, then grabs an organ from inside.

"One elephant heart," he plops it on another table.

"Two Rhinoceros lungs," and drops them next to the heart.

He reaches in again and slams his fists into the side, "Great, no fucking gorilla brain. Damn it..."

He looks around the room and locks his gaze onto the three human corpses in the corner.

__

Maybe I won't need a gorilla brain...

He grabs a corpse and slides it near the table, "HA! I got the final part for Genesis... Oh! Play on words. TWINS!!!"

He grabs another corpse and chops the head off in one fell swoop, picking up the brain as it rolls out of the skull.

****

It's been a while, huh? Let me know what you think, as I wrote this in about two hours. Chapter Nine: All That Glitters is Not Gold.. Review NOW!! CoRpAsItE


	10. All That Glitters is Not Gold

****

Resident Evil: No End In Sight To This Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.

****

Chapter Nine: All That Glitters is Not Gold

"You have to be shitting me.... This is not good."

Leon took the words right out of everyone's mouths.

Claire stares at the wreck in front of them and sighs, "Well, what next?"

Dusty looks at Leon and smirks, "Why not let Mr. Navigator over here tell us?"

Leon growls and punches him in the shoulder and says, "Drop it, ok? Now, I say... Never mind, anyone got an idea?"

Michael nods and says, "We can walk, the church is not far away, and after that we can hit the hospital..."

Dusty places a hand on Michael's shoulder, "No, think about it. Medicinal supplies from UMBRELLA!! I wouldn't trust a condom from them if they made them. How about we skip the hospital AND the cemetery and go straight to the gun shop?"

Leon, Claire, and Michael nod, showing their agreement, though Michael's looks a little shaky. Leon looks at the pretzel that was once the subway and notices something beyond it, like a hole in the wall. He steps forward and notices that the hole actually leads to the control room, and a few deteriorating zombies.

"Hey guys, follow me."

Dusty and Claire nod, while Michael steps back, "You can't be serious, you're actually going UNDER that thing? You three are crazy! Why don't we just go around?"

Leon either ignored him, or couldn't hear him, as he is already crawling through the wreck, screaming as his hands and legs go through a few smashed windows.

When he finally makes it across, he shouts, "Come on!"

Dusty cracks his knuckles and jumps in, falling into a subway car.

Leon places his hand on his forehead and thinks, _Dumbass...._

As he is about to shout for Claire, Dusty shouts, "I'm ok! My legs broke my fall!"

--

Dusty holds up his gun and looks around, nothing but a few smashed up bodies and some papers. The car shakes and he spins around, the car tearing away, revealing about seventy rows of spinning teeth.

__

Ooh, tunneling worm... Figures.

His thoughts are cut off as a pole flies over his head, sticking into the wall seven feet from him.

He steps back and takes aim, _At what? There isn't anything but teeth, and... Haha!_

He aims straight down the middle of its crawling mouth and pulls the trigger, the hanging orb in the middle of its mouth exploding in a flash of red and white. The creature groans and whines, then it closes its mouth, closing the car off right in Dusty's face.

He sighs and says, "That's one for me."

He turns to walk through the car, then he is pulled back through the window.

He looks around at Michael and Leon and says, "Got the bastard!"

Leon closes his eyes and says, "Oy Vey..."

Dusty arches his eyebrows and turns to Michael, whose hand is twitching near the handgun in his pocket, "You really want to kill me, don't you?"

Michael nods and leans in, placing his mouth next to his ear, "So much."

Dusty laughs uneasily and climbs out of the window, his gaze locked on the headless zombies slammed into the walls.

Claire walks trough the hole and wipes her hands on her pants, "Shows them not to try to bite me... Oh, hey!"

Dusty looks around and thinks, _They're crazy! Both of them!_

--

Thomas leans back in the chair and yawns, his mind willing to sleep, but the body won't let him. He spins around in the chair and kicks the wall, boredom setting in.

"**You can't leave!**"

Thomas growls and stands up, "Fuck you."

He kicks the chair and walks down the catwalk, his eyes scanning the cooling river of molten steel. He walks across the catwalk and jumps down, landing on a iron crate. He looks onto the street and jumps forward, shoulder-rolling across the road.

"**I told you! You can't leave!**"

Thomas smiles and says, "Do something about it."

He turns toward the subway entrance and smiles, his ears picking up gunshots.

He slowly strides to the stairs and smiles, "Ah, the cop, the doctor, the woman, and.... LEON!"

The four of them look up at him and Leon says, "Great... He's back AND he's pissed."

The cop looks up and replies, "You're the one who killed the creatures earlier?"

Thomas replies with a nod and points at Leon, "You and me have a score to settle."

Leon smiles and says, "I'm so scared. What you going to do, pop a few caps in my knees?"

The cop, the doctor, and the woman step up and Thomas frowns, then points his arm at them, "You three stay back. Either of you make a move and you die."

As he turns to face Leon, the shotgun is exploded right in his face.

He leans back and holds his face, "Ah god damn it! That hurt, you bitch!"

Leon pumps the shotgun once and presses the barrel against Thomas's head, "_DIE_."

Leon and the others turn around and stare at the creature looking down at them. It repeats the word and jumps down, the objects around it flying up as it lands.

Thomas stands up next to Leon and says, "Truce?"

Leon nods and adds, "For now."

Thomas cracks his knuckles and wipes the buckshot from his face. Leon loads two shells into the shotgun and holds it at his side. Thomas clenches his jaw and jumps at the Nemesis. It growls and pulls its arm back, then the fist connects with Thomas's face, breaking his nose upon impact.

__

God it's fast!

He spins around and slams into the wall, his head spinning slightly.

He clenches his fists and stares in amazement as a tentacle protrudes from his wrist, "About time."

He slams it around and jumps out of the hole, "Alright, let's go, you mutated bastard!"

The Nemesis growls and produces one of its own, its tentacle about three times bigger than Thomas's. He smiles and jumps at it, the tentacle slamming into the Nemesis's head, knocking it to the side a little. The tentacle wraps around the head and Thomas pulls back on it, turning the tentacle into a saw-blade, cutting the Nemesis's head open. It growls and slams the back of its hand into him, sending Thomas flying again. Thomas wraps his tentacle around the lightpole and swings around, resting on top of it.

He squats down and says, "That is starting to hurt, you fucking prick!"

He rubs the side of his head and growls, then jumps at the Nemesis, the tentacle flailing it behind him. He spins to dodge the oncoming fist and slams the tentacle into the top of its head, the pulls out his pocketknife. He lands on its shoulders and pries the skull off of the Nemesis. He pulls the tentacle back and slams it into its brain, smiling as brain matter sprays onto him. He reaches in and grabs the circuitry and yanks, the Nemesis groaning and swaying.

As he rides the Nemesis to the ground he shouts, "Is that all you got?!"

His voice echoes down the street and he wraps the tentacle around the lightpole, then swings up to the nearest rooftop.

He peers back over at Leon and shouts, "We'll finished this later!"

He runs around the roof and jumps onto the next one. He continues jumping rooftops as the moon reaches its peak, casting everything in glittering moonlight.

__

I guess it's true. All that glitters is not gold...

--

"Ok.... Can anyone explain?"

Leon and Claire look at Michael as he stares at the brainless creature.

Dusty looks up at the rooftop and replies, "No, cause I don't think they've seen anything like that before... Right?"

Leon and Claire nod and Leon replies, "Yeah, right?"

Claire nods and says, "Yes, we haven't."

Michael shrugs and says, "Shall we continue, the gun shop is this way."

Leon, Claire, and Dusty nod and they walk away, but Michael takes one last look at the dead creature.

They turn to face the gun shop and Dusty punches Leon in the arm, "It happened SO quick the place would be fully-stocked huh?"

Leon growls and says, "Shut. The fuck. UP!"

Dusty laughs and says, "Come on, I was just kidding. But, this place isn't fully-stocked, hell it's barely half-stocked. Aw, screw it, the place is more bare than Old-Mother's cupboard."

They look at the empty gun shop and then it hits them, they are looking at the closed-down store.

Dusty looks around and says, "Oops..."

Leon growls and shouts, "That was the last straw, I am going to KILL you! I am going to hurt you so bad that even the T-Virus can't infect you!"

Dusty gasps and runs, his feet pounding into the street heavily.

Leon pulls out the shotgun and shouts, "Don't run! Don't run! Damn it, I said don't run! Running only makes it worse!"

Claire sits down and looks at Michael, "So where is the other gun shop?"

Michael looks around and says, "Down the street, you go look for anything useful, I am going to stop Leon from killing Dusty."

Claire arches an eyebrow and retorts, "I thought you wanted to see him dead?"

Michael smiles and says, "I want the pleasure."

With that, he runs off, leaving Claire leaning against the wall.

She stands up and says, "Children, all men are children. Ok, now, to the gun shop."

She pushes herself up and walks down the street, her eyes scanning the street for any potential threats, sighing when the street comes up empty.

"Great.. The first time I get peace and quiet, I'm bored."

She reaches for the knob and then stops, "Oh, we are going to kill you! Get back! COME HERE!!"

She sighs and hangs her head, _Such children..._

She turns and runs after them, praying Dusty will still be in at least one piece.

--

Justin Leach watches Genesis as it roars and writhes around on the table. He smiles as it roars loudly, a few extra tentacles flailing about.

He dodges one and says, "He's a spunky one. Maybe it's time to see how Weidick fares against it."

He turns to the microphone and says, "You ready for a real challenge?"

Weidick's voice rises over the intercom, "**Blow me. What is it?**"

Justin smiles and says, "Come to the Riley arena. I'll have it waiting for you."

Weidick laughs and replies, "**Ok. It'll be about ten minutes.**"

Justin smiles and says, "Good."

He walks away and says, "We get to take a trip."

Genesis growls and looks at him, its red eye gleaming with a fire-like intensity. Justin laughs and presses a few buttons, causing the table to raise and a thick glass-tube lowering over Genesis. He presses one more button and Genesis is shot up into the ceiling.

"Ok... Now the real fun begins."

****

Ok. . . Hmm, don't know what to say. How about... Review, and next chapter: Ten: The Silent One. Until next time. CoRpAsItE


	11. The Silent One

Resident Evil: No End In Sight To This Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.

****

Chapter Ten: The Silent One

Leon holds Dusty by his collar and leans in, "Now, shall we get out of this city, or should I follow you around this whole damned city, just waiting to bust your right kneecap?"

Dusty whimpers under Leon's gaze and says, "How about we get out of here first. Then we can fight it out."

Leon nods and says, as he releases his grip on Dusty, "The let's go. I don't think they sealed off the city, not when the outbreak occurred this fast... So we might be able to hoof it out of here."

Claire walks up to them and says, as she points her gun at the ground, "I see you two are playing nice. Damn.. I was hoping to join in the fun and bust a few kneecaps..."

Dusty and Leon arch eyebrows and exchange looks of confusion, then slowly walk back to the gun shop. Michaels stands up from the trashcans and slides a small vial into his pocket. Dusty walks up to Claire and keeps step with her. Leon rubs the smudge from his shotgun, and turns to Michael.

"Is there anything important we need to know about Genesis?"

Michael jerks his head to him and replies, "Not really, it's still in the 'drawing-board' stage as far as I know. I don't remember much, as they kept changing my shifts around. But I think Dr. Leach has been working on it when I wasn't. But Genesis should just be an idea in the wind."

Leon stops and looks at Michael, an expression of confusion on his face, "I thought you said that Umbrella was coming to get it?"

Michael gags and replies, his face flushing of color for a second, "Well they can create the virus from my documentation, it's just that the Riley facility doesn't have the necessary machinery needed to form a virus, or anything for that fact... We can't even make Penicillin... It's sad you know?"

Leon smiles and replies, "It makes me wonder how the T-Virus was released in the first place."

Michael nods in agreement and they walk down the street, Michael's hand resting on the vial in his pocket.

--

Thomas makes it to the Arena in three minutes, giving him plenty of time to kill the zombies that stumble around the streets. He flips off the roof of the Post Office and lands on a zombie, crushing it in half upon contact. He stands straight and holds out his palm, then grunts, the tentacle flying out and snapping three zombies' heads off. He twirls the tentacle behind him and slices a zombie in half, then back-flips, dropping his knee onto its head.

He looks around, the streets are empty, "Where'd they go? -Sniffs- Hmm... I guess it's time to go inside."

He walks through the doors and sniffs again, picking up a smell of blood and sweaty animals... He walks past the concession stands, up the stairs, and arrives at the arena, and stares at the glass cylinder resting at center-court. He jumps down and walks up to it, something telling him this isn't good.... But he likes a challenge..

He taps on it and jokes, "Can I borrow a cup of sugar mate?"

He shoulder-rolls to the left as the glass case shatters, an ape-like arm resting outside the case. It twists around, then jerks upward, splitting the case as it rises. Thomas walks backwards, a smile crawling over his tanned skin. He lets the tentacle fly out, then sits down in a chair, waiting for the creature to tear through the rest of the glass.

You wasted your time with this one... It can't even jump...

He laughs as it flies through the air, its legs powerful enough to push it to the bigscreen, nearly seventy feet up. It lands and the ground shakes, its glare locked on Thomas. He stands up and pulls out his knife. He flicks the blade out and jumps at the creature, but is stopped midair by a held out fist. He slams into a row of chairs and drops the knife, since close-range won't work. He releases his tentacle and jumps into the air, then slams the tentacle down, smiling as it wraps around the creature's arm. His smile turns to a grimace as the creature slams him into the ground, using his own weapon against him.

This is going to be a bit difficult...

He rolls away from a dropped foot and stands to his feet, his handgun in his hands. He aims above the creature's head and pulls off three rounds, knocking the wires holding the big-screen up out. It groans and sways, then drops on top of the creature. Thomas slides back from the contact and smiles, happy to have the creature dead, yet disappointed that it dies so easily...

"Weak..."

It doesn't last long, as the screen groans, then flies through the air, the creature sitting in the middle of the dust and debris. It's chest heaves as it inhales and exhales deeply. It twists its left arm and a large bone-like blade snaps from his wrist.

Wait... It IS the bone.... How odd, and slightly disturbing...

Thomas slams his tentacle into the floor and crouches into a fighting stance, his eyes locked on the white orbs the creature probably 'sees' with. He crouches a bit more, then pushes into the air, smiling as the creature does the same. The G-Virus pumping through his bones and veins sends him higher, right up to where the screen was once attached. He lands on the girder and throws his tentacle down, wraps it around the creature's neck, then drops back. As he stops right in front of the creature, he groans and screams as the tendons in the tentacle begin to stretch and snap, causing him the most pain he's felt in forever. He growls, then screams as he tears the tentacle off, using it to choke the creature. He swings to avoid its attacks, then stops, as the attacks become slow, and then finally cease. He smiles, then releases the tentacle. He lands on the big screen and screams as his left leg collapses instantly.

"Oh, shit..." groans Thomas as he rubs his leg, "possibly a fracture, or just a sprain."

He rolls onto his back and sits there, amazed as the creature is still attached to the screen-support. He looks at his left wrist and sighs at the indentation, then turns around and stands up. he swipes the dirt and dust from his person, and walks out, leaving the creature to spin solitarily.

"I'm done, what now?"

"**Well done, but I want you to meet Genesis. That was just a bit of warm-up for you. But such a shame you removed your only weapon...**"

Thomas laughs at this, what can possibly beat a G-Creature? He ducks as one of the Press-Boxes explodes, sending glass and debris raining down. Thomas swipes the glass from his black hair and stands erect, his eyes locked on the figure in the dust cloud, and the weird abominations attached to its body.

One of them explodes on its left leg and little slug-like things fly through the air and attach to his body, "Odd......"

His body feels like it's on fire as one of the slugs bites down. He swats them off his body and steps on them, smiling as the squish loudly.

"You got to do better than that!!"

More explosions fill the arena and Thomas covers his face.

--

It amazes me.. No matter how fast an outbreak occurs, the gun store is always empty!

Leon kicks the glass case and says, "Merry Christmas guys...."

Dusty checks his watch, "Holy shit... It is Christmas.... December 25th, 2004.... What the hell...."

Claire snorts from the back room and walks back out, three boxes of handgun rounds tucked in her arms. She drops them onto the countertop and they land with hollow thuds.

"Yeah, they're empty. This place is empty..." replies Claire as she sits down on the leather chair.

Michael drops a shotgun and says, "There's no trigger, no hammer, and the stock is cracked."

Dusty leans against the wall and smirks, "What now, Super-Cop?"

Leon growls and says, "Remember.. I am the better shot. So, I got one word: Kneecap."

Dusty laughs and says, "I was just joking, damn. I guess we head for the outskirts, if they haven't sealed it off."

Leon and Claire exchange glances, then the ground begins to shake and rumble, then stops as soon as it started. Everyone exchanges awkward glances to one another, then slowly step out into the street. Dusty pops a cap into the Lone Zombie and they stare at the smoke billowing from where Riley Arena is situated.

Leon stares for a second longer, then says, "Well, that's odd..... Shall we take a look?"

Dusty and Claire nod, then they walk forward, leaving Michael standing in the street, a worried look upon his face.

Dusty turns back, places a hand on his shoulder, "You okay bud?"

Michael shakes his head quickly, then nods, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just caught in the moment."

Dusty smiles, "Better do it now, than when we're stuck fighting a Super-Duper-Ass-Kicking-Thing-Umbrella-Made-That-Can-Somehow-Be-Killed-In-An-Awkward-Way."

They both laugh and walk after Leon and Claire. Leon looks at Claire, grasps her hand and winks at her.

Claire smiles and pokes him in the arm, "You're cutting off the circulation to my fingers.."

Leon gasps, then loosens the grip, "Sorry, Claire... Hehe..."

He rubs the back of his neck and laughs sheepishly, _Oh, sweet move ass.. I might kill her before the first kiss....._

Leon knows this is the wrong time to be thinking about love, but eh.. They might not make it out alive, not after what that Nemesis became. He ejects the thought, and replaces it with a picture of Claire smiling, Sherry at her hip, and the motorcycle behind them.

God, that was a nice bike....

I know this is a bit shorter than the others, but I just got over a problem with this chapter.. And my brain hurts. I'll make it up to you in the next chapter.. No One.

Now review, if you aren't too mad at me for taking so long....


	12. No One

****

Resident Evil: No End In Sight To This Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.

****

Chapter Eleven: No One

Thomas slams into the ground as the creature lands on the wood floor, causing the planks to shift. He pushes to his knees and spits blood on the ground, then wipes it off with the back of his palm.

He stares at the creature's distorted face and sneers, "I see you are a bit feisty today... Makes it more fun for me..."

He jumps into the air and drives his knee into the creature's head, then grimaces as it falls in, and begins to smoke horribly. He places his left foot on the creature's chest and pushes off, but his knee won't move. He screams in pain as his pants catch fire from some chemical the creature is made of.

"Let. Go. Of. Me, you BITCH!!" screams Thomas as he kicks the creature, then punches its head.

After the first few punches, the tension around his knee gives, and he falls to the floor, his face mere inches from a swelling pack of slugs on the top of the creature's foot. Thomas rolls to the left as it explodes, sending fresh, acidic slugs through the air. Thomas jumps to his feet and twists his body, dodging a few of the larger slugs. He grabs one that slaps him in the face and squeezes it, smiling as green and purple gunk gushes from between his fingers.

__

Let's see what you are made of, hmm?

He throws the dead slug to the ground and runs toward the creature, taking full, long strides to carry him faster and farther. He drops to his knees and slides between the creature's legs. He drops to his back and his legs pop horribly. He stops about twenty feet from the creature's back and grimaces, both his legs pulled from their sockets. He pulls them around and shoves them back into place, now officially having to crawl anywhere he wants to go. He spins around and marine-crawls around the arena floor. He grimaces as his knees snap around, allowing him to walk again.

"God... This blows ass..."

He jumps to his feet and flips over the creature, which has closed the gap between them. He brings his leg back and kicks the creature, sending it to the floor for the first time. It slams into the wood and the slug-pockets explode on its chest and arms. Thomas swats them out of the air and slides into a football stance, one hand on the ground, the other placed on his hip. He looks at the creature as it rises, then runs forward, football-tackling the creature at the knees. Its legs snap and it falls back to the ground, the rest of the slug-pockets exploding.

Thomas grasps the knife from the floor and throws the blade open, looks at the creature, and says smoothly, "It ends in one."

He throws the knife forward and it digs into the creature's head, causing the caustic liquid to pour from the wound, burning trails down its face. The creature slides around wildly on the floor and shrieks terribly. If it wasn't for the G-Virus, Thomas might have gone deaf. Thomas flips into the air, and drives his knee into the knife, severing the head in half. Thomas stumbles back as hundreds of slugs crawl from its body, and begin to eat it.

Thomas groans, holds his side and says, "Dinner is served..." then walks out.

--

Claire shudders as a cold breeze rushes through the dead city. Leon hands her his jacket and smiles. She takes it and slides it on, basking in its warmth. She tightens her grip on her handgun, aware that the city is eerily empty.

"Hey," says Dusty from behind them, "there's someone back in that alley."

Leon holds up the shotgun and walks slowly to the alley, eyeing the person sitting at the end of the alley.

He raises one of his hands and says, "Hey, we're here to help, if you come with us, we can get you out of here."

The person doesn't move, so Leon repeats, and places a hand on the person's shoulder. The body leans against the wall and the head rolls, clean off it's shoulders.

As it slaps against Leon's boot, he kicks it like a football, watches it clear a window, raises his hands and shouts, "IT'S GOOD!!!!"

Dusty places a hand on his face and says, "He's a retard...."

Claire nods and replies, "Yeah.. But he's our best shot... And our best chance to get out of here.."

Dusty nods and replies, "Well... Better get him before he uses the body as a tackling-dummy."

Michael scoffs from behind them and retorts, "Who's the real dummy out of the two of them?"

The three of them nod and laugh as Leon prods the body like a kid does to a sleeping body the first time he sees one. Leon walks back to them and smiles broadly.

He places a hand on Dusty's shoulder and boasts, "Did you see that kick! Whoo! I should try out for the football team!"

Dusty shakes his head and whispers, "He really is retarded..."

His voice rises a few octaves, "Explain why that body is getting up when it has NO head?!"

They all turn around, and Leon screams, at nothing. The body is still sitting there, leaning against the wall. Leon turns to Dusty, tightens his grip on the shotgun, and slowly steps to Dusty.

Dusty backs up, looks at Claire, and asks, "I should run again, shouldn't I?"

Claire nods and Leon pounces on Dusty, pinning him to the ground, "I am going to tear you limb from FUCKING limb damn it!!!"

Dusty struggles beneath Leon's grasp, then finally places his shin on Leon's chest, then shoves Leon into the wall. Leon gasps, then falls down, a smile on his lips.

"You," gasps Leon as he stands to his feet, wiping a small stream of blood from his upper lip, "are one hell of a guy, you know that?"

Dusty laughs along with Leon, leaving Claire and Michael out of the loop. Dusty rises to his feet, helps Leon up, and urges the rest to keep moving.

"Get back here you freak!" shouts a deep voice from down the street a few blocks.

Leon squints to see it and says, "It's a guy, running off with a TV... What the hell? Doesn't he know that there are zombies around?"

Leon arches an eyebrow as a man, with one leg, hobbles after the crook with a crutch. The man drops to the ground and screams, the sound shaking off the buildings.

The man pounds his fists into the ground and shouts, "I can't watch the football game!!! NO!"

Leon and Claire shake their heads as Dusty reaches into his back pocket, pulls out a small card, and sighs, "Alright, it's not one of my games..."

Leon stares at him, then punches him in the arm, rubs his knuckles, and says, "You're a retard."

Dusty laughs and says, "I could say the same about you."

They both laugh and continue walking, stepping over the one-legged man.

__

I wonder if Thomas is still alive..... I pray not.

--

Justin Leach pounds his head into the desk, screaming in frustration, "Why won't you die!!?? You're ruining my plans!!"

A figure rises from the table and slowly walks behind Justin. Justin pounds his head into the table as the figure silently growls, a LONG tentacle/tongue sliding from its cracked lips. Justin smiles at the video of Thomas tearing a zombie in half, with his bare hands. His smile fades, then turns to a silent scream, as the tongue is shoved through his face. The tongue wraps around his head and constricts, causing his brain to pop out of the top of his skull like a spitwad. His eyes explode, coating the monitors in their black goo. The creature releases Justin's body and turns to face the doors, then roars loudly.

--

Thomas stops as his ears pick it up, a roar off in the distance, right underneath the Riley Arena. He smiles, then shrugs it off.

"Not for me," he says as he continues to the Umbrella facility, right in the center of Riley.

His ears perk to a sound of voices, one distinct voice causing his blood to boil, "LEON!!!"

He runs through the alley and slides along the frozen street, shooting fresh snow into the air. He smiles as guns are cocked in his direction, Leon behind one of them.

"We really need to stop meeting like this, ya know?"

Leon smiles and replies, "Then I guess one of us has to die, huh?"

The cop looks at Thomas and arches an eyebrow, so Thomas smirks, "What? I got a slug on my face?"

The cop nods and says, "Yeah, you kinda do. And, it seems like it's _eating_ your face...."

Thomas growls and tears it off, slams it to the floor, and stomps on it. He smears it into the concrete and locks gazes with Leon.

He spits on the ground and tightens his fists, while Leon loads a few shells into the shotgun, "You think that _toy_ will help you against me?"

Leon drops it and kicks it back to the girl, "No, I just want to give them something to help them. Cause we're fighting one on one. Mano-y-Mano. Got it?"

Thomas nods and grins, "I wouldn't want it any other way."

Leon nods and arches his head back to the small trio behind him, "You guys get going, I'll catch up later."

They nod and walk off, leaving Thomas and Leon alone. Thomas walks up to Leon and glares directly into Leon's green eyes. Leon stares back, teeth grit, then leans his head back, and sneezes right in Thomas's face.

Leon rubs his nose and says, "Sorry...."

Thomas recoils and wipes the white snot from his face, "You're going to pay for that."

Leon sneezes again and says, "Sorry, I guess I got an allergy to scum."

Thomas laughs and takes his vest off, then drops it into the thin film of snow, "Let's go."

Leon drops his jacket, then crouches into a stance, "Yeah, come on."

Thomas pulls his fist back, charges at Leon, then drops to his chest. Leon gazes in confusion, then slams back as Thomas kicks him. He slams into the snow and skids along the asphalt.

He stands to his feet, "Good one. You had me fooled for a second."

Thomas flips to his feet, cracks his neck, and runs at Leon again, but he is ready for him this time. He raises his handgun, and pumps off three rounds into his face. Thomas recoils and drops to the ground, not moving at all.

Leon spins the gun around, then slides it back into the holster, "Done already?"

Thomas's body twitches, then flips through the air, landing in a crouch, "Not at all. Just getting started."

Thomas looks at him, the feeling of two long gashes in his face almost comforting, as his face is too numb. He slides his arms across his chest, then pulls back, his arms popping loudly. He crouches and jumps at Leon. Leon leaps to the left, and brings his right leg across Thomas's face.

Thomas flies back as Leon rubs his leg, "Aw, shit! That hurt like hell!!!"

Thomas lands on his face and slides down the road, sending snow and ice into the air. He stands to his feet, rubs the blood from his face, and glares at Leon with blood-covered eyes. He shakes his head, sending more blood everywhere.

He slicks his hair back and says, "This is taking too long..."

Leon smiles and says, "You thought I would be a pushover... How sad..."

Thomas growls, and runs at Leon, then slips on a pack of ice, slamming his already broken and bloody face into the concrete and ice. Leon leans over and begins laughing.

__

Great... He's laughing.. Damn it.

Thomas smiles and charges at Leon one last time. Leon shrugs and raises his boot to waist-level. Thomas places a hand on the ground and pushes to the left, hoping to get around Leon's kick, but to no avail. Leon brings his leg up and slams it down on Thomas's neck. He wraps his leg around Thomas's head, then brings him around, slamming him face-first into the concrete.

--

Leon stands back up and walks off, leaving the unconscious Thomas to lay in a pool of his own freezing blood.

__

Damn it! That is the last time I try to imitate a Bruce Lee movie.... My leg hurts like hell!

He looks around in a snow-pile and pulls out his handgun. He checks it, places it in the holster, and continues walking down the street, wanting to find Claire and the others first. He stands at the intersection of Mason and Titan and looks around, nothing but destroyed buildings and crushed cars.

"What," asks Leon as he stares at a giant footprint, "could do this?"

A voice picks up behind him, "Something thirteen feet tall, about half a ton, looks like someone threw a Tyrant and Licker into a blender and pureed them. And likes to pull people apart at the skull."

Leon spins around, curious as to how she knows of it, "What are you talking about Claire?"

Claire climbs out of a car to his left and says, "There's something loose around here that you don't want to meet. It threw Dusty several hundred yards that way, and Michael is somewhere around... There he is."

Michael stands up from a crack in the street and says, "Damn... What the hell... Oh, hey Leon."

Leon nods at him and replies, "Anyone seen my shotgun? I guess we should go find Dusty.. I guess..."

****

Um..... Ah..... Hmm... I guess.... Just review...


	13. The One, The Only!

****

Resident Evil: No End In Sight To This Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.

****

Chapter Twelve: The One, The Only!

"What the hell? Damn it.. I lost.. NO!" screams Thomas as he jumps to his feet.

He holds his arm and shoves it back into place, then begins to walk down the street. He looks around groans, his vision doubling by the second. He places a hand on the nearest building and slides down, sweat freezing to his face in the growing blizzard.

__

The virus must finally be taking effect... Ugh, I don't want to be some mindless creature without a soul...

He closes his eyes, hoping the growing dizziness goes away, but hope never works. He stares at the back of his eyelids as he imagines tearing Leon's eyes out.

__

What is four feet tall, three feet wide at the shoulders, and has the attitude of an Oompa Loompa on crack? A miniature Tyrant.

Leon stares at the short version of what Claire says she encountered on Rockfort Island. He pumps the shotgun and looks at Claire, whose grip is tightening on her handgun.

"Well, what do we do?" asks Dusty as he reloads his handgun.

Leon smiles and says, plain and simple, "Aim for the eyes."

Claire and Dusty raise their guns and open fire on the creature. Leon steps back and loads the shotgun, as he got it back empty. He fumbles in his pocket and pulls out one more shell, making six. He pushes it in and pumps the stock, then runs at the Mini-Tyrant. He jumps into the air and pumps off a round into its face, tearing its head from its shoulders. Leon lands on the ground and shoulder rolls to dodge the falling gray body. It slams to the concrete and sends fresh snow back into the air. Leon stands to his feet and ejects the spent shell, then turns to walk down the street.

__

Simple enough. But something is really odd about this city.. It reminds me of Raccoon... A little too much...

Dusty watches as Leon walks past Claire and him, "Where the hell did you learn that?"

Leon huffs and replies, "I live in the middle of nowhere, what else am I supposed to do besides practice with my guns?"

Claire turns to face him and says, "I live openly, everyone knows me as Claire Redfield. We really have nothing to worry about as Umbrella has nothing to connect us to the Raccoon Incident. They're more interested in keeping all this a secret to worry about us."

Leon huffs again, this time not even bothering to reply to her as he walks down the street, kicking up snow with each determined bootstep.

Michael crawls out of a car and says, "What the hell happened? My head feels like someone put it in a vice and squeezed..."

Dusty walks up to the hurt black man and says, "That's basically what happened... Now, can you still walk and come with us?"

Michael nods and reaches for his handgun, pulls it out, and continues walking with Dusty. Dusty places a hand on Michael's shoulder and points to a window on the third floor of the nearest building. Michael looks up and groans a little at the sight of dog-sized cockroaches.

Dusty smiles and replies, "What? Is that a smite odd in a city of the walking dead?"

Michael shakes his head, "Not really, just unexpected."

Dusty laughs and they catch up with Leon and Claire, who are busy having a conversation of their own.

Claire looks at Leon as he goes on about what was going on with him after Raccoon.

Leon yawns and continues, "Well, met Chris and Barry on one of their ammunition runs and Barry gave me one of his old Jeeps. Chris didn't say a word, looked like he was busy with something important. Guess it had something to do with Jill. So, how've you been Claire?"

Claire shrugs and says, "Living life actually. Just a bit pissed that neither you nor Chris called me or wrote a letter. I swear, men are the most paranoid race on the planet... Ah, what else? Oh, I got a job working at a local diner, boss sucked, pay sucked, but it was the only thing I really had time for, as I was finishing college at Riley U. Never really expected a Virus outbreak here."

Leon nods and raises the shotgun over his shoulder, then slides it down the strap on his carpenter pants, using it as a holster for it. He pulls out his handgun, praying that they come across some amount of ammo. Claire steps back a little, as to approach Dusty and Michael.

Claire looks at Dusty and asks, "When was the last time he cracked a joke?"

Dusty places a hand under his chin and replies, "Dunno, I think... Well a few minutes ago. But it wasn't a good one..."

Claire nods and replies, "Sounds like he's reliving Raccoon, as I am as well..."

Dusty nods slowly, then stops, his gaze locked on a figure standing at the end of the street, behind him. He pulls out his hand gun and slowly turns to face the creature, which has released its ten-foot tongue, two-foot claws, and six inch horns.

Dusty stops and stares at the creature, "Hey, guys... We got company..."

Leon is at his side in a flash, as is Michael and Claire, their guns ready. Leon grabs Dusty and Michael and throw them into the nearest building.

He pushes Claire in after them and shouts, "Run! Run for all you're worth!" He follows Claire through the reception area, through a hall, and bursts through the back door of the building, landing in a side street, complete with garbage cans and dumpsters, and a few stray zombies. Dusty quickly dispatches of them and leads them down the alleyway. Leon stands back for a second and stands on the green dumpster, something really familiar about this. He peers around the corner and sighs, recognizing this from back in Raccoon.

__

Well, it IS a mirror version of Raccoon, with a few differences...

He jumps off the dumpster and looks behind him, yep, the stairs that lead to the back of the gunshop. He sighs in disappointment and runs after his friends.

He catches up to them and Michael remarks, "Get lost?"

Leon shakes his head and replies, "Nah, just remembering some things..."

He grabs Claire's hand and she looks at him, a look of surprise, then complete complacency on her face. Leon smiles at her as they walk down the alley, Dusty wondering just where the hell they're going.

__

In a world of mock-innocence, where everyone is just imitating someone else, what is normal?

Thomas laughs at the thought that popped into his head, "My god, I must be losing my mind... Now, which street do I take? The left? Right? Or straight?"

He opts for the left one, then shakes his head, clearing his vision, revealing that there was one street, not three. He runs down the street, his legs pounding into the asphalt as his left arm ripples and wrinkles, a new tentacle popping from his wrist, sending a fresh wave of pain through his body. His concussion compounds with each step, each boot step becoming forced. He finally gives in to the fatigue and tears the door of a house down. He walks in, and finds the bedroom. He walks in, coming face-to-face to a female zombie. He separates her from the mortal coil and lies down on the bed.

"It's not like this city will be nuked like Raccoon... Since Umbrella will most likely cover this up..."

He sighs and closes his eyes, his concussion knocking him into a deep sleep.

****

The creature that his creator called Genesis stands at the end of the road, wondering just where the figures went. He slams his tongue into the building to his left, causing it to fall over, thus causing a chain reaction tearing down every building on the block. Genesis growls as a sound that makes his 'ears' hurt erupts behind him. He spins around, his Multi-BOW-Composed_1_** body nearly slamming into the car next to him. He stares at the large thing that is crawling from the sewer. It reminds him distinctly of himself, because of the long red tongue. The creature is almost his size, but sits on all four legs. Long claws protrude from this creature's hands and feet, giving it the optical-illusion that it's smaller than it really is. Genesis roars and slams his left arm down on it, killing the Mega-Licker upon impact. Genesis snorts and turns back to the demolished buildings. He crouches down and pushes himself into the air, watching out for any movement. He lands with a loud bang, causing the road beneath it to collapse, sending him into the wet darkness of the sewer.**

"Wait... You're kidding?" stumbles Claire as Leon slides the shotgun into the hole in the wall.

Leon turns back to face her and says, "No, you all stay here, I'll be back in a while."

He turns and begins to climb through the hole, but someone grabs his leg. He spins around to see Dusty holding his ankle tightly.

"What," growls Leon, "are you doing?"

Dusty grabs his other ankle and yanks him back into the room, "We're not splitting up. We either all go, or we don't go."

Leon sighs in disgust and sits down under the hole. The building collapsed about three minutes ago, causing them to fall through to the basement. The doors blocked by something on the other side, leaving them with the hole as their only escape plan.

Leon frowns and nods, "Alright, but he goes first."

They turn to look at Michael, who is staring at something in his coat pocket. He jerks up at them and growls, obviously not happy at this turn of events.

He stands up and sighs, "It's because I'm black, isn't it?"

Leon shakes his head, "No, it's cause you're the only one who hasn't done shit to help."

Michael really doesn't like this, but agrees. He pulls out his handgun and crawls into the hole. After a minute he turns back and shouts something.

"Leon, I really hate you."

They laugh as Michael keeps crawling.

"Oh holy shit..." mumbles Thomas as the soldier comes to, three large bumps pulsating in his cranium.

He holds his head and slowly stands to his numb feet. The man gazes around and groans as his sight crosses, sending a migraine to join its brother concussion. He places a hand on the wall nearby and screams as it automatically begins to burn and throb. He throws his head to the sky and screams, his teeth elongating slightly, blood pouring from his gums.

__

AGH! Too soon! Too soon...

Thomas drops to his knees and pounds his fists into the concrete. He stops and stares in wonder as two purple tentacles fly from his wrists. They take on minds of their own and begin to slam into the walls an ground beneath him. One slaps him across his own face and tears his right cheek off. Blood spews onto the snow-covered ground as Thomas slinks along the cold concrete and pushes a door open, his body aching to stop and rest.

__

Six hours since initial infection... Why haven't I mutated?

Thomas's eyes scan the room he crawled into and spots the inviting carpeted floor, his hands immediately scratching the floor. He clambers to it and begins a coughing fit, spewing even more blood, this time it's purple. Thomas glares at it, then his eyes flutter as the virus begins to take over.

__

Leon, this ends now...

****

Eh... Tis a bit short.. But, I'm trying to overcome a BIG case of writer's block.. So, review..


	14. Unlucky Breaks

**Resident Evil: No End In Sight To This Nightmare**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.

**Chapter Thirteen: Unlucky Breaks**

**Sorry to have just left you guys hanging here.. If any of you are still around.. But got caught up in writing Evanescent Dreams that this story seemed to just vanish.. But am done writing that and am ready to go here.. I hope my writer's block has ended now...**

Leon taps his knuckles against the wall, obviously exasperated. Michael crawled through the wall a given seven minutes ago, he should've been on the other side by now... But Leon is more focused on what he was doing in his pocket, cause there have been random beeps coming from the black man's person, but Leon and the rest have shrugged it off as nothing.

"I'm through!" comes the muffled scream a decent three seconds later.

The brunette with them leans toward the hole and whistles, "Wow.. That's a long trek.. So, who's next?"

Claire looks at Leon and sighs, knowing she's next, then promptly crawls through, having a bit of a harder time cause her hair gets snagged on a loose pipe.

As Dusty and Leon watch her scramble down the makeshift tunnel, Dusty the brunette smirks, "You need to work on your relationship skills, mate..."

The ex-cop huffs and glares down at his counterpart, "And what do you know of women?"

A brown eye winks as he crawls into the dark hole, "Obviously more than you... See ya on the other side man."

Leon closes his blue eyes and growls, not liking the way this day is going. But who could when you're surrounded by zombies and the only girl alive you like doesn't even know how you feel? He places a hand over his face and sighs, such minor peeves when there really are more important things to deal with...

"Hey? You alive Leon?"

Blonde hair flies around as the ex-cop crawls into the hole, grumbling at his luck as the hole is barely big enough for his form. From out of the darkness, a small ball of light begins to form, then it focuses into a square opening with three distinct figures blocking the exit.

11

Dusty and Michael help pull the man out of the hole and sit him down, both of them smiling at him, "What are you two clowns smiling at?"

Before the two younger men can respond, Claire walks up, picks the cockroach off his back, tosses it to the ground, then politely stomps on it. Leon sighs and stands up, glaring down at the new hole in his jeans.

"What next guys?" asks Claire as she cleans her boot off with a pipe, the dead cockroach still putting up a fight, even in redeath, "Ugh.. God that smells rank..."

Leon and Dusty smirk while Michael fidgets around in his pocket again, this drawing the attention of both Claire and her blonde counterpart. The black man looks up and quickly draws his hand out, something heavy settling back down in the cloth crevice. He runs a hand over his head and turns from them, facing the spider-cracked window.

_Well, he's acting suspicious yet again. Might have to confront him if he keeps this up..._

Green eyes follow Michael's every movement, anticipating the moment where he turns traitor. Just as she expects him to, Michael finally pulls the deice from his pocket, and in return getting three handguns to his face.

The scientist smiles and opens the device, now revealed to be a phone, and speaks, "You have my son?"

11

"AGH!"

Zombies turn toward the screaming mutant, their cataract eyes seeing nothing, but they know he's there. One in particular, a female zombie, holds up her broken left arm, her rotten feel slowly dragging her toward the mutating individual.

"No.. Get awAY!" screams Thomas as he delivers a fierce punch to her face, the dissolving bone and decaying skin giving away easily.

Thomas drops to his knees, his skin now inflamed and swelling, the force having broken the straps to his vest. The broken garment lay on the snow in shreds, blood covering almost every square inch of the black Kevlar. Black hair flutters to the cold snow as the mutation moves toward his head. Scream after scream after scream rock the soldier's body as skin tears and reattaches, scars appearing and disappearing.

_This can't be happening.. It can't.. Not now.. Was so close to my goal... Leon and Claire are going to get away.. Survive yet another outbreak... This.. NO!_

White light burns through the air as something in his body causes the flickering streetlights to burn at their utmost potency. The bulbs shatter, signaling the end of the mutation. Bare feet crush snow as Thomas stands to his feet, his entire body feeling as though it's on fire. The male slowly stumbles toward the nearby window and stares into it, not expecting what he sees.

"I.. I'm... Me... How can this?" before he can finish, one of the zombies has dived into his neck, purple blood flying everywhere as it snags his jugular.

White teeth grit as Thomas wraps both hands around its head, then twists his body, sending the zombie over his shoulder and into the window, without a head. Bloodshot eyes stare down at the silent head in his hands and a slick smile crosses his lips.

"This is going to work to my advantage... Leon, Claire, the cop, and Michael will die..."

Thomas leans back and laughs at the sky, this world has thrown him so many curve balls over the past few hours, the infection, the mutation, the city in ruins, and now the entire world is now in the palm of his hands.

11

All four survivors jump as the loud screams continue, then die out into a laugh, "Thomas is still alive..."

It was Leon who said it, but Dusty knew it to be true as well. If what Leon had told him when they were tying Michael down is true, Thomas Weidick is now a BOW. One of the worst kind: A BOW with intellect.

Claire shudders, then leans against Leon, the cold obviously getting to them all, "Why the hell is it so cold here?"

Dusty checks his handgun, then throws it to the ground, "Jammed bad... We are in southern Montana after all... Anyone got an extra gun?"

Before anyone can say anything, the cop is taking Michael's, the scientist having no say in the matter as he's the one tied down. Dusty drops the half-empty clip and jams in his last one, smiling down at Michael.

"Thank you. Much appreciated," is all the brunette can say before Leon and Claire are dragging him out the crumbled wall and into the street.

Dusty prepares to walk forward, but something wraps around his feet, sending him crashing to the ground. Brown eyes widen as a hissing sound fills the small area he's now trapped in, telling him it's one of those tongue-things from earlier, _What did Claire call it? A Licker?_

The exposed red muscle, the brain, the blank eyes, yes, this is the Licker. It howls at him, then drops from the I-beam it was attached to, its tongue quickly retreating into the dark cesspool one could call a mouth. Dusty opens fire, snow filling the air with each recoil. One round punctures its chest, nothing at all, so he aims for the face: nothing. With one last shot, right before it can land on him with claws prepped, he fires one shot almost point blank into the brain. The gray organ literally explodes, black gunk covering the cop's body and face.

"Ugh... God... Not gonna do that again..." groans the brunette as he pushes the dead carcass off him, then slowly stands, the brain matter running down his dirty street clothes.

He turns at the sound of clapping, seeing Leon standing in the entranceway, a smug expression on his face, "Congratulations. I thought you were dead for sure..."

Brown eyes close as Dusty walks past the survivor, "Only in your wet dreams would I ever die Leon."

11

_Ouch kid... That hurt... You need to watch what you say..._

Leon shakes the emotional pain off and walks after the flustered man, trying his best to appear neutral, not the pissed zombie-killer he feels to be at the moment.

Claire drops Michael to the ground and asks, "Should we recap what Michael said so everyone has their stuff straight?"

Dusty just grumbles and sits down in the snow, using some of it to clean his face and hands, so Leon answers for him, "Yeah, go ahead."

Claire and Leon lift Michael up and continue walking, "He says someone has his son. Making him due things to sabotage our escape. But nothing so far can be considered sabotage. What I'm guessing is he's giving Umbrella info on our whereabouts... Or I could just be blowing hot air out my ass..."

The redhead smirks and hefts Michael up a bit more, "Yeah.. Could be that.. I could see him being a father though.. Seeing how he watches over Dusty even though he's only a year or two older... But what I don't get is why he'd flat out ask that question when the phone rang..."

There are a bunch of complexities about this turn of events. The air of calm about him, if it was Leon's kid, he'd have freaked and started demanding the guy to give his kid back or he'd hunt him down and cut his balls off with a dull stick.

He laughs at this, so Claire arches an eyebrow, "What's so funny?"

Leon shakes his head, "An inside joke, you wouldn't get it..."

The green-eyed woman huffs and leads them around a corner, where two tentacles are slammed at their feet, "LEON!"

_Oh great.. Still holding a grudge... Fine..._

Leon lets go of Michael and steps forward, "Yes Thomas?"

The Asian runs toward him, his tentacles already retracting and shooting forward, "I'm going to kill you!"

"Damn it!" screams the blonde as he unloads a few rounds. "Can't you morons think of anything better to say? You sound like a bad horror novel!"

11

Thomas easily dodging all seven shots, then drives his left tentacle into Leon's neck, sending the man flying into the nearest building. A smile crosses his lips as Leon slowly limps back out, his left arm shooting across his chest.

_Seems I wounded him this time... Now it gets interesting..._

Before the mutant can take another step, his head is shot to the right by a handgun round from the red-headed bitch. Thomas is now growing a strong loathing for that hair color as he brings his head back around, the bullet wound already healing and closing back up.

"Oh you bitch.. You're going to pay for it now..."

But yet again, before he can move, another handgun round pelts his face, this time coming from the cop. He smirks at Thomas and fires two more rounds, these finally sending the mutant to his knees. The black-haired BOW tries to stand back up, but a knee sends him forward and to the ground, his nose busting on contact. He looks back to see Leon standing behind him, with his knee extended.

"How do you like that? One BOW can't take on three people with guns..."

Thomas growls and flips back into the air, using all his strength to propel him over the roof of the closest house, then runs toward the center of town, "I'll be back! Don't think you've escaped death!"

_Gotta get my strength back up.. They fight well, even if they do cheat... Will have to separate them if I'm going to win..._

**Sorry if it's short for one of my chapters... But am kinda getting back into the rhythm of Nightmare... And if I continued, the story would start to repeat itself.. And we don't want that now do we? I hope you guys are still around... Cause I feel kinda lonely...**


	15. Behind Innocent Lies

**No End In Sight to My Nightmare: Chapter Fourteen: Behind Innocent Lies**

"I'm fed up with Agent Weidick's failures... We're sending in the Sweeper Team.. They'll fix this mess..."

The six executives of Umbrella White slightly laugh as the smallest of them picks up a phone, pressing a single digit, "Tell them they've got the green light..."

"Are you sure we should be doing this? I mean it's just a small group.. They can't possibly escape the seven Nemesis Programs running around..."

Green eyes stare at the black-haired scientist, "I know you're new here Donnelly... But you must learn to trust us.. Plus, all seven Nemesi are dead... Only thing still active is Genesis and we can't control that..."

Junior Executive Neal Donnelly frowns and retorts, "I may only be seventeen, but I've proven myself! Genesis isn't a sure thing, but trust me.. I have a feeling Weidick and the Tyrant will overcome the survivors... Just let me take over this little experiment... I promise I won't fail you... Plus, I think you have a problem with holding one Albert Wesker back from taking over our little company... Seems the mission he went on in Spain has succeeded.."

The older exec smirks, not liking the new member, but sighs, "Fine.. You watch over them carefully.. If I see one slip, Sweepers are going in.. Got me, Donnelly?"

"Yes," replies Neal, obviously very pleased with himself, "I do, sir..."

11

"Son of a bitch... You've got to be fucking kidding me..."

Four sets of eyes stare down at the at least four-hundred meter drop down a ravine stretching on forever, probably around most of the town, "Seems those damn worms have been working over time..."

Dusty and Michael shake their heads, "There's only two..."

They stare at each other and Dusty smirks, "You've met them?"

The elder of the five nods and frowns, "I created them..."

Before anyone can reply or berate him for being Umbrella, Leon has his handgun pointed in his face, "You sick son of a bitch! You work for Umbrella!"

Claire, Dusty, and Michael stare at him in disbelief, then the redheaded woman shakes her head, "Leon..."

"What, Claire?"

"We've," she sighs, then continues, "known about his work for Umbrella.. Remember Genesis? The whole discussion we had thirty minutes ago?"

Dirty blonde hair shifts as Leon shivers, "Guess the cold must be getting to me... Come on, let's go."

As Leon marches onward, his shoes kicking up ice and snow, Dusty smiles widely, all his teeth showing, "I think his brain has been frostbitten since he got here..."

The brunette watches the two mysterious people and his locksmith-instincts kick in, _They know we can't escape, but they keep trying... Why? What are they looking for? An alternate escape route that existed in Raccoon? Hmm.. Personally I think they're both crazy... Wait... Michael might know..._

A hand shoots out and holds the scientist back, allowing Leon and Claire to round the corner of Macon and Grapheme, "Michael.. Is there another escape route here? Besides the roads?"

The black-haired man sighs and nods, "Just like back in the Raccoon Facility, there's a turbo train... Borrowed from Tokyo... It's designed to get the Umbrella employees from Riley to Herron.. Only problem is, it runs completely underground, to reduce the risk of anything infected from getting to the outside and causing further outbreaks."

By now, by some chance, Leon has heard him and has rejoined the duo, "There's seven checkpoints along the way... If there's anything infected, the train automatically shuts down. The doors lock, and we're stuck in the train until we die... There is no removing the infected item from the train... This escape system is more effective than the one in Raccoon the two of you escaped on."

Dusty spins around and smiles, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "Didn't know you were there..."

"Quite... This train, underneath the Umbrella lab?"

Michael shakes his head, "No.. The lab has a path to the train... The train.. Well, am not sure there's a direct path from the surface to it... If anyone knows, it's going to be Chief of Staff Justin Leech..."

Claire yawns loudly, her breath swirling around them, then fading as its temperature levels with that of the winter air. A quick breeze picks up, sending cold shivers down all their spines. Leon zips his jacket up, while Dusty takes his off and hands it to Claire.

Green eyes rest on the beaten denim jacket, "You sure?"

"Yeah, I like the cold.. Doesn't bother me so much..." comes the cop's reply.

Leon growls at Dusty, which he interprets as jealousy, "You know, you could've given her your coat.. But guess you need to keep some part of your body warm.. Since your heart obviously isn't..."

The blonde cocks the handgun, but Claire nudges him in the arm, a warm smile on her face, "Yeah, you cold-hearted bastard..."

"I just can't win..."

11

"Of all the things in the world I could be doing, why does it have to be watching a body decay? You know, I could've been a lawyer... But the offer of 'See the World, Meet Women, Serve Your Country' was just too good to pass up... Why does God hate me?"

In a split second of weakness, Genesis-BOW Thomas Weidick has managed to show emotion beyond that of rage. Thomas has just shown a small hint of depression. He sighs, running one blood-covered hand through his hair, while the other is sitting under running water.

Brown eyes stare down at the orange water and he frowns, "Why is my tentacle not growing back yet? This severely sucks..."

The BOW looks in the grime-covered mirror, his brown irises surrounded by broken vessels, giving them an unearthly glow. His face contorts into a snarl of pain as the water starts to burn, the blue color going unnoticed.

"What the hell?" he looks down at the liquid, sniffing slightly, "T-Virus? So that's how it was spread..."

He read reports on his way here about how the virus might've been released, but the water mains went unmentioned. Umbrella doesn't even want their own mercs to know what is going on here.. Maybe this is a test? That thought has crossed his mind before, but why would they cover it up? Things aren't making any sense now, especially anything he's known about his employer...

"Makes me glad I'm fixing to switch... HCF seems the better deal anyway... The benefits," he stares down at his arm, and the small tentacle beginning to form, "are worth the risk of Umbrella coming after me..."

11

"Listen here... You're going to tell me EVERYTHING you know... About Umbrella, Genesis, and those damn Tyrants chasing us..."

Michael growls as his back and head are slammed into the brick wall behind him, then stares straight into Leon's beaming blue eyes, "That's not a very nice way of asking for information..."

The ex-cop groans, pulls out his handgun, cocks it, then places it against the scientist's abdomen, "Fuck this, I'm done doing it the 'cop way'.. Now we're going to play a game my way..."

The black barrel is pressed into his gut with every word, "Every word you say to me that's not part of the _correct_ answer, I feed you a metal slug... Got me? To start, what is Genesis's original purpose?"

The African male smiles and stomps his foot, "Fuck you..."

Before the blonde can get a single word, or bullet in, his target is gone, the grating he was standing on collapsed, "Damn it all to _hell!_"

The audio of water sloshing around dies off as Michael disappears down the storm drain.

Claire attempts to jump down but Leon and Dusty both hold her up, "Bad idea..."

Her green eyes glance down, the small forms of several leeches very unsettling, "Ugh.. Those things are so gross..."

Dusty laughs and leans back against the wall, pulling one leg up, "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm glad he's gone.. Will be a little quieter at least..."

Leon growls and jams his gun into the holster, "I'm," he jumps down, "not letting Umbrella scum get away..."

Claire and Dusty watch as their friend disappears into the murky underlyings of the city, "He's screwed..."

11

_Nice way of dicking things up there Mike... Great.. Just had to reveal the damn train... Son of a bitch, what's wrong with me?_

Doctor Michael Jones continues running, many thoughts of treachery plaguing his mind. Loud splashes soon give way to the sounds of what resembles crushing eggshells, leaving the man stranded, unable to move.

"What the hell?"

Dark blue eyes gaze down at the green substances covering his once white sneakers. As he tries to pull a leg up, what appears to be tentacles wrenching his foot back down with s loud, sucking pop. The scientist reaches down for his gun, but finds it missing, obviously gone from the fall earlier.

As he watches his foot struggle with the mysterious force, he hears another splash from on down the sewer tunnel, "Shit, they're coming after me..."

Without a second thought, Michael dives his hands into the green goop and digs his feet out, running off without another sound, disappearing before Leon can catch up to him. As he rounds a corner, he remains absent to the squid-thing slapping the wall with a hiss.

11

"Ugh, whoa!" screams Leon as something grasps a hold of his right foot, sending him down into the murky liquid of unknown combination.

The black water sloshes around his form as he barely manages to pick himself up, a tight grasp still locked onto his boot. The blonde spits the mouthful of foul gunk back toward the rest and looks behind him, his foot sunk into what appears to be a big green balloon, with cables or something keeping him hostage.

With him not going anywhere, Leon finally has the chance to look around, and suddenly and violently wishes he hadn't done so, "What the fuck has Umbrella been doing down here?"

All around him lie hundreds, no thousands of little green eggs, some of them almost translucent, revealing the monstrosities inside. The one closest to Leon, not even three inches from his face is starting to open, the top splitting and rolling down the shell like rolling a sock down one's leg. Inside lies what looks like the spawn of a sea squid and a human. The torso resembles a small baby, while the legs are more.. Of the tentacle persuasion, while the head has that distinct triangle shape from the squids. It rolls around in the shell and looks at him, its eyes too big to be real, and coos lightly, then proceeds to suck on its thumb.

"Aw man... That's the most sadistic thing I've eve..." but he can't finish as the bow's eyes gleam green and it flies at him, its tentacles wrapping around his face.

_AGH! Get it off! Get it off me!_ screams Leon as he reaches for the monster, but two more of the squid-babies wrap around his arms, interlocking them behind his back.

He tries to scream in frustration, but can't as his mouth is clenched shut by the first squid's grip on his face. With one last effort, Leon stands up and slams his back into the wall, dislocating one of his arms, but dislodging both of the arm-binders at the same time. With one arm useless and one free, Leon takes to prying the first from his face, but has to abandon that motion as he hears more of them hatch. His black boots pound through the murky water as the ex-special agent runs for dear life, the monster still latched to his face with abandon.

_THIS BITES SO MUCH!_

11

"No.. Damn it... She's gone..." Dusty leans back against the wall, then snorts. "Don't think I'm gonna go.. Cause I won't..."

The tree doesn't reply, obviously ignoring him as everyone else has, so he just huffs and sighs, "All right! Quit staring at me! I'll go! If I don't, they'll keep making me feel guilty..."

With a frown and a heavy conscience, the cop dives down into the hole. The dark tunnel is randomly permeated by little tufts of light, possibly from the other storm drain covers if nothing else. The brunette slowly makes his way down the dank sewer offshoot, not really liking the grimy feeling of the air and especially the smell. Rotting body waste was something that never got Dusty off... Just isn't his thing.

"Don't take another step closer!" a gunshot rings off the wall next to his face.

Dusty jerks his handgun up, but it's shot out of his hand, "Who are you?"

The figure at the end of the tunnel steps into the light, which doesn't reveal a damn thing to him, "Clad in full body armor... Who do you think I am, Superman?"

The soldier chuckles and raises his machine gun, an MPK by the looks of it, "Doesn't matter... You're not going to live much longer anyway.. Umbrella wants you disposed of..."

Dusty's brown eyes flash in delight, "So you're with Umbrella's Biohazard Containment Service huh?"

The UBCS stops laughing, obviously taken aback by the sudden knowledge, "You've heard of us?"

The cop smiles and holds up his badge, "I'm a cop, duh... We've been chasing after you guys for a long time... Now," he shakes his left arm, letting his side-piece slide from its holster, "come with me peacefully..."

"Hah," the soldier spurts, "you're one to be making demands.. You don't even have a gu..."

Dusty blows the smoke from the barrel of the .22 and politely walks over to the dead carcass and swipes the machine gun and 2 clips from his person, then grabs the handgun and spare clips. With the added arsenal, and the pride of having killed one of the finest soldiers on Earth. UBCS was the best... _WAS_...

**Another down, more to go... Expect the end soon... Hope you enjoyed this one... Seems I'm finally getting back in the mood for this story...**


	16. Darwin's Theory of Evolution

**No End In Sight to My Nightmare: Chapter Fifteen: Darwin's Theory of Evolution**

"What the hell? Leon, come here!"

Michael runs up to Leon, already driving his hand between the survivor's face and the monster. Teeth scratch his skin, but the scientist doubts it's sufficient to draw blood, let alone infect. With a mighty grunt, the squid-infant is pried from its home of choice.

The sandy-haired man drops to his knees, deep, heaving breaths shaking his frame, "Th.. Thanks man... That thing..."

"You mean the Zero-Fantasies... Was an old project they had me working on before Genesis appeared..."

Leon grumbles something, but doesn't act, just leans back, not really caring about the sewage, since he is covered in it, "Well, that _thing_ has been attached to my face for a good three minutes.. Didn't think I could hold my breath much longer..."

Doctor Jones looks down at his old experiment, then stomps on it, remembering what his supervisor said before transferring him, "Survival of the fittest..."

The downed male stands up, a look of pure confusion blessing his features, "Huh?"

"Nothing.." he pulls out his handgun. "Just an old memory... Come on, this way... We're heading down towards B3... That's where..."

Leon cuts in, "The train is... Yeah, I got that... But we're going back for Claire and Dusty... I'm not leaving them..."

Michael sighs, not liking this one bit, "Make you a deal.. I'll go on ahead, open the passageways, close the wrong ones... You get a free path to the train, I get a head-start... Deal?"

He surveys the other person, but sighs with relief, "Deal.. Just you be careful.. Don't get yourself killed..."

They shake hands, but when Leon turns to walk off, a spare clip is left in the black man's grasp, _Thanks Leon..._

11

_What the hell has been going on here? This is sick and sadistic... Umbrella created these things?_

Claire Redfield gawks before her at the scene, eggs, tons of them, each with the spawn of a woman and a Giant Squid. The only sound besides her breathing in the large drain port is the sound of hundreds, maybe thousands of little tentacles slapping eggshells, walls, even the water underfoot. She checks her gun, three rounds spent, thanks to the babies' ability to jump... That was an experience she never wants to relive...

"Claire! Look what I fou... What the fuck?"

Deep blue, almost green eyes look over at the policeman, a machine gun in tow, "Where'd the gun come from?"

No response, just a long string of drool leaving Dusty's lips as he watches the BOW-children, "God that's disgusting..."

11

_IDEA!_

Without a second thought, Dusty spins around and walks back toward the corpse of the UBCS member. He listens as another set of sloshes follow behind him, but he ignores that instantly at the sight of three small anti-personnel grenades.

"Explosives," chants Dusty as he snatches them up, nearly pulling the pin of one, "are a man's best friend..."

His brown eyes watch as Claire lightly laughs, a much needed change from the dread he felt upon spying those... _Frog-babies?_ The thought is shaken loose as he focuses on the turn that leads back to the drain port, both hands tight on one explosive.

"Uno," the pin is pulled.

"Dos," his arm is cocked back.

"Tres," mumbles Claire as Dusty launches the small grenade toward the middle.

Almost instantly the room roars to life with shrieks and loud, slapping sounds. Seems the presence of the explosive has set them off. _They have to have massive intelligence and a learning capacity of a damn genius to recognize those instantly..._

Of all the unnerving things he's seen tonight: His best friend's death, the impossible monster that killed him, the Lickers... This takes the cake. Like a swarm of locusts the mutant toddlers take to the air, then stick to the sides of the well overhead. Neither of them can keep an eye on them as the ground is suddenly shaking, the grenade finally exploding. Dark, almost purple water flies around them, then slowly flows back toward the center, but now officially three feet deeper than five seconds earlier.

"Um.. Yeah.. Let's go..."

Dusty couldn't have said it better himself, both of them jumping over the pool and running down the only offshoot not blocked by rubble. The lieutenant frowns as Claire passes him, rounds a corner, and flies back from hitting something.

"Damn it Claire.. Watch where you're going..."

_Leon!_ screams Dusty's brain as he creeps around the corner, seeing both survivors holding their heads.

"Nice to see you Leon..."

11

"Why would you do that? I didn't even get a chance to walk out the room! You already sent them in and didn't tell me!"

The Executive Board of Umbrella stares down the scientist with the nightshade hair, "Now, listen here Donnelly... You've already proven you can't get the job done... It's just a polite measure to feed the ego of our talent... The Sweepers will handle everything.. Just sit back and earn your damn paycheck!"

Neal growls, wanting to say so much, but not having the nerves to go through with it. With a grunt, then an exasperated sigh, he sits down in his chair and watches the screens, not liking the role-reversal going on.

"You're hindering me.. Holding me back..."

The sentences were mumbled too softly, but Neal knows one person heard him, Doug Newman. Sub-Director Newman has been with this company since it's 'demise' back in '98... Helping to rebuild the company... But there's been rumors going around about where his loyalties lie. It seems many of Umbrella's higher-ups were deserting this great company... The fools, they had no idea just how dead they were... Sure the recent headlines have been kind of sketchy, "45 killed in Train Crash. Three Dead in Chemical Spill. Six Men Vanish From Dinner Party." Doug has been doing his part to keep this company on its feet, but just what did that little twinkle in his eye mean?

The subject of Neal's monologue looks over at him, that same twinkle flashing at him, "You'll get your chance later kid... Might want to leave this to the professionals..."

_Professionals my ass... You can't tell me YOU are going to do something... I haven't seen you lift a finger since I started here... I swear, certain people are gonna drive me to alcoholism..._

11

"_Sorry, Code is Incorrect, Please Re-Enter ID Code._"

"God damn it..." this makes the third time, the card sliding in, 398712 being punched in, and the same denying buzz reflecting back at him.

This door is the emergency flood-control for the Sterilizing Pool, but with the recent turn of events, it should be empty. Besides that, the only other time it would deny high-level clearance is if the laboratory itself was contaminated. And that is something Michael does not want to think about. If the lab is infected, things are going to get rougher than they have been. The entire lab automatically locks down, sealing every door, vent, and doggie-door. That problem is easily solved though, just remove the fuses from the central Hub and rearrange them. Overloading the circuitry opens every door, but also unlocks the specimen cages. The inevitable Pro-Con of every situation.

"Great... Just perfect..."

Ten minutes of running, card swiping, and code entering has gotten him nowhere, a literal dead end. Another bad omen is the faint human voice coming from behind the thick door. Female, mentioning something about employees and the escape routes.

_Of course... Self Destruct in Event of Biohazard Contamination... Fan-fucking-tastic... We've got what? Thirty-Forty minutes before all goes BOOM? Just enough time to go back up, enter the main doors, destroy the Central Hub, fight our way to the train, get on, and die before we can even get the train going... Whoohoo..._

And to accentuate his enthusiasm, Michael waves a finger in the air in a circle, "Son of a bitch..."

He bangs his head against the door, fixing to piss himself if anything else goes wrong. And as if God himself loves shitting on people, an explosion shakes the tunnel walls, sending dirt, debris, and Michael's keycard into the muck.

"No!" he dives for it, pulls it up, and screams in frustration.

The acid in the sewage has just burned the metallic strip out of shape, rendering it useless, "Like it already wasn't before..."

Michael Jones, scientist for the Umbrella Corporation, is going to die in the town built by the company he works for.. Talk about the king of all ironies...

11

**Large rumble below the monster, drawing attention to the massive amounts of little things crawling from a drain. Genesis's targets are close, so close their scent is arousing the creature, causing its claws to extend and click together. They will die tonight, that is a given. With one mighty stomp, the BOW crashes through the asphalt and dirt, landing in wet, stinky liquid. A quick sniff alerts it to the path behind it, which is promptly filled by its gargantuan girth.**

11

_As if things couldn't get any worse..._

"Guys, we run.. NOW!"

Dusty picks both people up and the run, the policeman already dropping a grenade behind him. One left, but will it be enough to kill the creature? Possibly not, but maybe he can block its path, giving them enough time to escape, only to be hunted down again.

_Damn it my thoughts ruin the mood... Worth a shot..._

They are sent stumbling ahead as the explosive detonates, receiving a large roar in protest, then great thunder as the tunnel collapses behind them, "Appears I can save this last grenade then..."

Leon, Claire, and he stop running, spinning around to stare at the massive rubble that blocks the creature from them. Small rocks roll away, revealing a large hand, with three claws broken off, the calcium laying shattered at the base of the blockade. A collective smile crosses their lips as they turn back around, staring at Michael, who is leaning against the door, holding a small card of some kind.

"Can't get in?"

The short-haired scientist turns around and drops the card into the water, "The lab is infected... All the doors are locked... We're stuck in this place..."

Chocolate hair flies around as Dusty grasps his last grenade, walks toward the door, and turns to face the three older people, "Everyone, get back around that corner.. I'm gonna blow the door.."

Claire nods, taking Michael with her, while Leon smirks, "Thank you Captain Obvious."

The policeman shrugs, dropping the personal explosive at the bottom of the door, "Your jokes are getting worse..."

"And yours aren't getting any..."

Leon can't finish as the explosion hurls all four survivors back, Claire and Dusty slamming into the rubble their defeated foe lies crushed under, "That.. Reminds me.. We haven't heard from Thomas recently..."

11

Clothing flaps in the heavy breeze as the BOW overlooks the Umbrella Lab, black eyes reflecting the White Umbrella label acid-etched into the concrete walls. Thomas gazes down at the street, his tentacle shooting down and catching a rogue zombie by its neck. With a grunt, the rotten undead is raised up, but the pressure is too great, its head rolling off neatly, barely beating its own body to the ground.

"Hmph.. The zombies are too weak here... Infection must've been done seven to eight hours ago... How can that be? This town was normal around 5 o'clock and that was six hours ago..."

He continues to debate the issue as the ground shakes once, twice, then a third time, smoke and debris filtering from the sewage drains two blocks over. It must be Leon, but Thomas is more concerned with how he's going to get out of here. The lab is sealed shut, there's a massive crater around the city, only thing left is to fly out of here...

_And Riley is the only Podunk town on the map without an airport... Hell, it's doubtful I can rig a hot-air balloon from this shithole of a city..._

Fuck it, the raven-haired monster flips over the railing of the roof, landing safely on the ground several meters from the entrance to his former employer's home. His jaw tightens as he slams a tentacle through the doors, knocking them both down and into the reception office. Empty, clean, not even a trail of snot some nerd might've left on the desk... This lab can't be infected... There's no way.

"The sorrows of being a blood-hungry bio-weapon..." sighs the male as he walks toward the service elevator, already pulling the ID card from its place in his vest pocket.

"_ID Code Accepted. Welcome Back Weidick._"

"Yeah yeah, bite me..." he presses the button for B4.

A denying klaxon, then a female voice, "Warning, the self destruct automated sequence has been activated... All personnel must..."

Thomas slams the flesh-whip into the speaker, killing the woman in the elevator, "Perfect... Can I go to B3?"

Another beep from the panel, B2, another beep, finally he presses B1, the elevator groaning as it descends the thirty feet to the level below the one he currently occupies.

_Curse you Umbrella... I hope this damn company rots in hell for real this time..._

As the lights flash and flicker, Thomas makes a silent vow to destroy this company, tear it apart wire by wire, brick by brick, even limb by limb until this monopoly is crushed. As the lift decelerates as it nears the first basement level, the woman's voice is heard again.

"Of every woman here that has a nice voice, they pick the biggest airhead... Damn you Denise... Damn you..."

**One more down, everyone is now entering the labs, one three floors from his destination, the rest one floor below where they're supposed to be. Will they make it out in time? If you've read my other stories, you know the answer...**


	17. Familiar Shadows

**No End in Sight to My Nightmare: Chapter Sixteen: Familiar Shadows**

"Just how is it a single grenade can shatter a biohazard door?"

Lieutenant Dusty Stracener walks past Michael, the machine gun tucked under his right arm, "It's cause I'm just that beat-ass... Come on, let's get to that train..."

Leon and Claire both sigh in exasperation, but follow their dark-haired companion into the silent lab. Four sets of eyes, each a different color scan the dark, dank underlayings of the Umbrella facility. Moss drips off the massive pipes stretching along the walls and the tapered ceiling. Their boots and shoes squelch as they impact the water soaking the concrete. The sounds die off, but not before echoing toward unknown ears.

"Well," huffs Claire as she looks down at her own tired reflection, "this is the most random location we could've come in at..."

Michael taps his left arm with his right fingers and quickly turns left at the end of the service tunnel, "This way... We'll come out in Storage Wing F.. From there it's just a short flight of stairs up and a long walk until we get to the platform... I just hope they finished the re..."

He stops in mid sentence, not wanting to let them down. The train was scheduled for maintenance and repairs after a M121 got loose and tore up the cabin. The damage wasn't bad, but the event only happened a few days ago, so the train might still be...

_No, the train will be ready.. I don't want to be here anymore..._

A light hand is placed on his right shoulder, drawing his attention away from the train and back to here and now. Dusty looks up at him and smirks, pointing toward the lone zombie skulking around the corner, both ankles broken. It raises one arm, the other hanging loosely in its grip, torn off at the elbow. Upon further inspection, it appears the undead's hands are fused together, by a chemical maybe. The scientist raises his handgun and squeezes the hooked trigger, a round exploding and snapping his target in the neck. The zombie moans, the sound gurgling from the wound, but continues to walk forward. It takes two more steps, both emitting crunching sounds as the feet snap around. Before any of the armed people can pull of a shot, a bright flash severs the zombie into three pieces, head, abdomen, and legs. A croaking roar flutters from the shadows, a Beta hunter loafing toward them on webbed feet.

"Oh come on, these can't be out unless someone shut off the power..."

11

Three burnt fuses drop to the mesh metal floor, a faint smell of burnt flesh washing over the open Central Hub.

Thomas stares at the burn marks on his hands and sighs, "Damn, those fuses must hold damn near ten thousand volts each..."

Purple eyes watch as the blackened epidermis heals, the wounds closing, the skin softening. With full use of his hands again, the BOW turns and walks toward the only door with a green light, what has to be the Bio-Organic Weapon Research and Development Facility. As Thomas walks up to the door, a panel depresses and the metal door flies open, revealing a bloodied hall.

"Ooohh..." he sighs in delight. "Looks like I get to kill things..."

A red tongue darts out and licks dry lips, just the anticipation of death whetting his appetite. Human bodies lay broken and shattered along the flickering hall, skulls smashed, bones snapped like twigs. Something big must've come through here...

_Or maybe the new Mir's are loose... Damn it why did Umbrella have to dive into nano-technology? Son of a bitch.. This is gonna get rough..._

The Mir, or Mechanized Intelligence Retrievers were designed to break into rival companies and steal important information on their projects.. But Umbrella, as usual, has to take something cool and turn it into a blood-thirsty weapon of semi-mass destruction. Thomas's ears twitch at the sound of shrieking metal, obviously the sign of an approaching Mir. Twirls of silver metal cover the wall as a small robot, no more than two feet in length, drops to the ground. Mir's claws tack the metal flooring as it scrambles toward him, its mechanical jaws snapping open and shut in anticipation of the upcoming kill.

"Oh god damn it... Could this get any worse?" growls the BOW as his black eyes meet the crystal of the Mir's.

With hydraulic-powered hindlegs, the protocol droid jumps for him, claws extracting as it reaches for him. Thomas growls and flips back, both feet slamming into his adversary's head, but does nothing short of causing pain in his legs. Blood-stained hair flutters in the wind as he continues his flip back, dodging swipe after swipe from the razor-sharp scythes. The Mir chirps rhythmically as if to groan in displeasure at the evading target, but Thomas just takes that as a sign he's winning this match.

_Well, wonder if the group is having worse luck than I am?_

11

"Leon, have anymore shotgun shells?"

The dirty-blonde shakes his head and glares at the Beta Hunter in disgust, "No, only got one clip for the handgun... Anyone got anything... Dusty..."

The lieutenant shrugs and takes aim, not for the head, nor the chest, but for the knees, wanting to debilitate the new monster before it gets to them.. Two quick trigger squeezes and the Hunter is in the air, brandishing claws and fangs. Claire steps up and pulls off two rounds, knocking the scaled enemy to the ground, smiling at the two croaks it emits. Dusty sighs and walks up, planting three bursts into Beta's chest, killing it with a raspy breath.

Blood lines the walls and a squelching sound reflects the crimson from the brunette's boots, "Well, that's one down... Shall we continue?"

Leon checks his weapon, not looking at the younger male, but is dragged down the hall by Claire and Michael, all of them holding out weapons, ready to kill anything. Water trickles from the condensed pipes overhead, making the underground tunnels seem just that more empty and desolate. Dusty holds out the MP5, slowly scanning back and forth for any signs of movement, disappointed as he finds none. Michael taps the fatigue-ridden male and points to a concrete staircase.

11

"That leads us up into Storage Wing F... Come on guys.."

Blackened sneakers slap the porous rock of the withering stairs as the scientist pushes on the door, finding it opens easily, _The power must be out then... Not a good sign at all... The zombies are already to the point of collapsing in on themselves, but I doubt the specimens here are decaying... Judging by the abilities of that Beta back there.. We're gonna need all the firepower we can get our hands on..._

The raven-haired male raises his handgun and aims the barrel down the hall they've stepped into, all of the doors lay open and foreboding to the four intruders. A couple of metal doors are slanted, possibly blown ajar from the explosions caused by the chocolate-haired policeman.

"So many doors, so little time.. I want to go through everything.. Get as much as I can against this place..."

Leon, Claire, and Michael sit back as Dusty walks into the first room, which is clearly marked, 'Specimen Tank Q'. The redhead tries to say something, but her fellow survivor stops her, a slick smile on his lips.

_This is definitely not going to end well for Dusty... That's where they house the small animals..._

Michael can't help but laugh as he hears the Riley Policeman rifle through some cages and papers.

11

"Time to find what I'm looking for... Time to find... Who knows what I'm looking for? I do!" sings the brunette as he turns a box over and dumps its contents on the floor: syringes and empty bottles.

Dusty walks around the room, his chestnut eyes scanning for anything worthwhile, yet comes up empty... He tries to sigh, but a large hand is wrapped around his mouth and the lieutenant is dragged off into the shadows.

11

Thomas flips back, landing on the railing, then growls as the Mir lands beside him, its silver talons clacking together rhythmically. The nightshade-haired male's eyes widen as he remembers the few documentations he read on these robots.

_The fuckers can communicate... Son of a bitch..._

Before he can act on this newfound knowledge, he is picked up off the railing, his black combat boots clanking against the poles. Blood pours down from three wounds in his chest as he is raised to eye-level with another Mir hanging from the ceiling. It chirps at him, then lunges for him, its beak spreading wider as the distance between it and its meal shortens.

"Nice try..." growls the BOW as he pulls back, his body sliding off the talons as the mecha drives itself onto its own weapons.

Sparks flail wildly, singing his skin and clothes, then the Mir explodes. Metal rains down, but he can't relish in the victory as two more fly past him, their 12 claws missing his face by several inches..

_A diversion..._ Thomas raises his left foot, slamming the appendage into the head of another R&D screw-up.. It instantly explodes, the death of another grabbing the attention of the remaining two. The slowly turn their heads simultaneously, the servos whining loudly in protest. They both let out a single chirp, then jump for him. He grabs the face of one of them, uses its own momentum to spin him around. He releases the captured enemy, flinging it at its counterpart. The two collide in a massive cascade of metal and oil, ending the fight in a shower of sparks.

The BOW smiles and swipes his hands clean, finally able to relish in a well-earned victory. They were fast, yet he was designed faster... They were stronger, yet he can adapt to overcome that... Thomas Weidick is the strongest being on Earth!

_God, I'm so damn cool..._

11

Leon taps his foot on the metal floor as he leans back against the wall, glancing at his dead watch for the fifth time in three minutes, "Someone go get that retard... We don't have much time!"

Michael sighs and raises his hand, "Me! Pick me Mr. Kennedy!"

Claire smirks, yet returns her gaze to the small room her friend entered. Dusty should've been back already... He knows there's only a few hours left to get to the train... She is getting a very bad feeling about this, as she always does in an Umbrella Facility...

"Dusty? You in there?"

Her green eyes flash as she watches the scientist near the door, "Don't go in that room!"

Too late, as the black man flies back out, a rather large scaly hand in the way. Michael picks himself up and screams rather loudly, almost as if he recognizes the monster that just beat him into a pulp.

"It's... A Nemesis!"

_Son of a bitch!_

Both Leon and Claire run toward the dropped human as the wall in front of him crumbles and is pulled outward. Debris coats the hallway, limiting their vision to just a few feet in front of them. Claire reaches Michael first, his chest bleeding profusely from a spike imbedded just below his neck. The man twitches, each movement knocking more minutes from his lifespan.

The blonde pulls the crimson-haired woman from the dying scientist as he shouts over the sound of shredding metal and shattering glass, "It's too late for him! We got to run!"

She doesn't want to, but her friend is right. She turns around and the two pound their feet to get away. Neither risk a look back to see if the Nemesis is following, because they both know it is. Nothing will stop it from completing its goal: The death of everything relating to Umbrella.

"Hey ugly!"

All three stop mid sprint, only the Nemesis turning its attention to the new voice. It growls, the stitches stretching from the inflated throat. As it continues to growl, the stitches snap, the dark brown skin pulling back, revealing forest green tendons. The monster takes on a more sadistic appearance. It hunches over, large fins of razor-sharp bone protruding from its spine.

"Go... Now..."

Leon nods at Claire, both of them rounding a corner, leaving the stalker with its new prey.

11

It didn't take Thomas long to find his rivals, but now he wishes he didn't. Now he finds himself in a one-on-one fight with the 5th Mutation Nemesis. He cracks his knuckles, two tentacles flying from his wrists. The skin appendages slap the walls in anticipation, leaving small dents where the Nemesis left dents the size of cars.

"Well, seems I got your atten..."

The words are lost as the Nemesis is in his face, the monstrosity having used its knee to send him back. Thomas flips through the air, twisting his body to the optimum angle to ensure a safe landing. His feet connect with the mesh grating, then in an instant he is running at the green-skinned Goliath. A million ideas of torturous deaths flash through his mind, but he just settles on jumping into the large cavity now forming in its chest. The BOW slams into a wall of organs, bone, and tissue, his form now resting inside the body of his target. The Nemesis shakes around, trying to dislodge the invader from his body, but Thomas wraps his tentacles around its ribcage. Blood pours over his body, but it's a pointless attack, as Thomas just stands up, shoving his head and shoulders into its heart. The organ distorts, yet doesn't shatter, so the Asian fighter tries a new tactic. Both hands cup the engorged muscle, then they slowly move closer together, the heart not having anywhere to go. It slowly bulges, then shatters, the reaction instant and very painful.

"I win..." spurts the male as he slowly steps out of the frozen enemy.

His black eyes gaze the defeated foe up and down, then he smiles, opting to just leave it there. He walks down the hall, but a bloody hand snatches his pant leg.

Below him, the black scientist gazes up at him, "You're not go.. Going anywhere..."

"Now, while I don't have time to indulge in pleasantries, I am inclined to ask how you intend to stop me?"

Michael just smiles, crimson life running from his cracked lips, "Click, click... Click... Click..."

Thomas doesn't understand the word leaving his lips, but the explosion several seconds later tells him enough. It seems the group has gotten a hold of some rather useful explosives. His lithe frame smacks into the ceiling, his clothes quickly melting off from the intense heat and flames licking his body. His hearing is overcome by a loud, annoying ringing as he slams into the ground. Two bounces, then a loud crack end the attack, two bodies lying useless on the floor.

After roughly six minutes, Thomas slams a hand into the ground, "FUCK!"

He stands up, shaking at first, but quickly regains his composure as his wounds heal, the skin stitching itself back in place. Thomas glares down at the chard remains of the scientist, which he promptly spits on before going off in search of new attire. Hopefully someone here has a taste in clothing suitable for a Tyrant... Of many definitions...

**One more down... Several to go...**


	18. Name Your Price

**No End in Sight to My Nightmare: Chapter Seventeen: Name Your Price**

Brown eyes flash open, the empty pupils shrinking from the bright white all around Dusty. A gasp leaves his mouth, the sound fading to frost as a shudder wracks his frame. It's unbearably cold in this room, even for him. The lieutenant pushes himself up to a sitting position as he gazes around the small lab-like area, but something is wrong. Dusty hasn't found himself in a lab, he's found himself in a cryo-room for viral-studies.

"Of all the places..." huffs the male as he swings his legs over the edge of the table.

His feet slap the smooth floor below, the dull thud not echoing as he thought it would. He takes a shaky first step, but he soon finds himself on the ground as something shatters underfoot. Dusty swipes the ice from his face, then gazes down at the pile of glass he know sits in front of.

"Just what has Umbrella been working on?"

Suddenly, six computer monitors kick to life, the buzzing drawing his attention instantly. The Umbrella logo flashes across them, spinning without a care in the world. From the black screen rise up several smaller umbrellas, each with a phrase written on it. In order from left to right, each says, "Progenitor, Tyrant, G, T-Veronica, and Genesis."

Going off a hunch, the brunette strolls up to the monitor panel and speaks clearly, "Genesis."

A beep screams from behind him, the Genesis-Umbrella begins to spin faster, slowly growing until it fills the entire screen, seven faces fading in around the name. The one at the top is a face he's grown to know quite well over the past day or two. It's none other than Michael Jones himself. Next to him on the left is a rather elderly-looking man by the name of Raymond Hill. To the left of him is a rather young woman with dull black hair pulled back in a rather tight ponytail. Her smile seems almost forced, the name what Dusty can guess is the reason for her hidden angst, "Lucius Freeman."

"Oh.. My god... I'd be pissed too if I had a guys name... Wait..." Dusty stops his ridicule when he thinks about his own name.

Okay, next person. The other four pictures are just silhouettes, showing they are very important people. Which surprises the cop since Michael is credited as Project Manager. Seems Umbrella has its ass backwards from its face, so to speak. Dusty smirks and stares at the picture of Dr. Jones. A slender brown eyebrow is raised as he notices something wrong with the mini-biography.

"Open biography of Dr. Michael Jones."

The monitors comply and across all six screens fill with paragraphs upon paragraphs of words, colleges, friends, family. And finally, on the last screen, is his date of birth, age, and flashing, his date of death.

"April 27, 2006? What the hell? He died today? No... No way... This can't be..."

Sure, Michael was a member of Umbrella, but Dusty is a firm believer in second-chances. Now, it's just Claire, Leon, and Dusty left to fight the scourges of undead and mutant bioweapons in this lab.

"_Warning, 2 hours until self-detonation activates, this process cannot be aborted.._"

"What, no mention of the train?"

Yet again, Umbrella has an answer for everything, the monitor on the far right fills with static, turning to a live shot of what he guesses to be the train depot. Flames lick the sides of the tracks and the train itself, casting a very dark expression over Dusty's face. Things have yet again taken a turn for the worse.

"Great..." the cop huffs and slaps the monitor, sending it spinning wildly in circles, "Just what I wanted to see... How did the train become wrecked?"

The screen next to it flashes, showing a recorded scene from earlier on, roughly 2 hours ago. On the screen rises a solitary form, tentacles flailing wildly, almost appearing as a living cloak. Several men step out of the engine of the train, large guns in their unsteady hands. The monster drops down from the catwalk, slamming into the concrete platform with earth-shattering force. The inferior beings flop into the air, several disappearing around the other side of the high-speed vehicle.

"Fuck..."

11

Leon and Claire finally come to a gasping halt several floors down from where they once were. Blue eyes meet green as Claire gazes over at her friend, their expressions the same. The blonde male smirks and holds up his hand in a 'victory' sign, smiling broadly behind the gesture.

"It appears we've made it!"

The redhead sighs and drops down to her butt, both hands hitting the tiled floor with a thud. Her hair is matted to her face from sweat and blood, both of which she is almost positive belong to her. She slowly peels the red vest from her back and tosses it into the air, the denim garment slapping the tile with a soggy slop.

"Ugh... I'm not gonna be clean for weeks... So, what are we going to do about Dusty?"

Leon frowns at the mention of the brunette's name. He was a good kid.. Not too bright on some things, but he knew how to take care of himself...

"Quit it."

He arches an eyebrow at his female counterpart, "Quit what?"

Claire smirks and crosses her arms in front of her chest, "Thinking he's dead. You know damn well every time you say that, he comes back..."

They both laugh, but that suddenly gives way to a very uneasy, dark silence. The Nemesis came from the room he entered... After seeing what it can do to buildings, there's no way he could've survived... They both know this. But if it is true, Claire and Leon have suddenly lost everyone around them.

_Enough of this! We need to move on!_

_**Enough! We need to get moving!**_

Both of them are thinking the same thing, and it shows on their faces. Claire and Leon are beginning to act and think alike, which has good meaning in a place like this. Both humans stand up, a second wind having filled their lungs, revitalizing their bodies. With a determined air to each step, they traverse farther down into the labs, hoping to find the train shortly.

"Leon...?"

"Yeah Claire?"

"Um... Nothing..."

11

Clothes, mainly white lab coats and tan slacks, fly from the open-door closet as Thomas rummages through the last of the bunks on this basement level. So far, nothing of interest except a pair of Raven-Covered boxers, in his size no less. So, dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers, the BOW decides to look at himself in the full-body mirror. His frame has increased in muscle size by nearly forty-percent. But his strength has more than tripled that. Scars from previous missions line his chest and abdomen, only giving a slight hint to the real person behind the Bio-Weapon. A snarl adorns his mouth as he raises his left arm, the main vein pulsating horribly. It doubles in size, then the skin begins to tear, the vein becoming a full-on tentacle. It slaps the mirror ferociously, mimicking the rage held inside. The mirror shatters easily, the shards bouncing harmlessly along the carpeted floor.

"I'm loving this virus... But Genesis is too scientific a name for something so God-like... Maybe I'll call it..."

His dark lips curl into a rather malicious smile as he studies the new appendage, "Isis... That sounds fair..."

He laughs loudly, but stops as behind the mirror lies a single pair of black combat pants and a black wife-beater. Gold for a BOW if you will..

_Someone up there loves me... I swear..._

11

A loud clang, then another, followed yet another, finally Dusty drops the pipe and falls down to his knees, the last bit of his strength waning. For the past two hours he has been smacking the glass, but it is pretty damn sturdy.

"Bah... Open southern exit?"

"Command cannot be accomplished. Guest does not have right command criteria."

"Eh." he waves his middle finger at the monitors, "Your mom is a Macintosh..."

_Well, the computers have no sense of humor..._

He laughs at his own dry joke and rubs his arms, the skin cold and covered in light frost, "Raise temperature?"

"Command cannot be accomplished. Command will comprimise experiments."

"Nyah!" Dusty sticks his tongue out at the monitor, but gasps in pain and surprise as it freezes to his bottom lip.

"Shun uf a bitsh..."

11

"Oh holy shit!"

Leon pushes off the wall, using all his strength to propel him from the obstruction as fast as possible. Four metal talons slash into the stucco material, a loud chirp giving way to the monster now terrorizing the two.

"Agh! This is completely retarded!" screams Claire as she flips back, landing swiftly on her stomach.

The robot flies over her, dropping its arm down, but she rolls away from the titanium knives. It has been roughly twenty minutes since they last stopped. Ever since then has been running from this robot-tyrant things.

"What the fuck have they been messing with down here?"

Leon smirks and calls back, "An Erector set? ... Ah! Shit!"

The blonde dives back, but a single talon catches his chest, a single gash appearing parallel to his spine. As it flies over him, blue liquid flies from a small hole in the tip of the talon, missing the human by inches.

"T-Virus! Run!"

Claire picks Leon up and the two of them make a frightened break for the stairs at the end of the hall. Both of them cover their mouths and noses, doing their best to hold in as much clean air as possible. Leon dives down the flight of stairs as Claire slams the door shut. Without even taking a break, the two of them continue their mad dash for the next floor down, feeling as though they're trying to outrun death.

_Which isn't a lie if you think about it..._

11

Thomas's ears twitch as he hears several things, metal on metal, running footsteps, and a very faint dripping sound. A smile crosses his lips as his tongue darts out and licks them. Someone is bleeding...

"Perfect... Well, seems I'm off to 'save the day' yet again.. The shit I do for a company that mutated me..."

The BOW slides his door open and quietly steps out, his naked feet slapping the tile deadly. Yet another search turned up no shoes.. But that doesn't matter with his regenerative capabilities. A flash fills his mind, stopping him in his tracks. As he contemplates what that was, or could be, a Mir flies past him, its claws dug into the wall for support. Thomas backflips, catching its head with both feet. He twists his body around, taking the robot with it. Metal crunches as the Mir flies through the wall, slamming into one of the minor power rooms. Sparks fly madly as the nano-tech dies instantly, its circuitry fried instantaneously.

"God I love being me..."

He continues on his way, keeping an ear on the blood-dripping sounds above him. A confused expression plagues his face as he realizes something: The sound is getting closer. His smile returns, in full force as it threatens to tear his mouth open wider. He takes in a deep breath through his nose. Aside from the smell of burning wires, Thomas picks up on Leon's scent, covered by a mask of metallic...

"You're bleeding Leon... Mmm..." the maniac licks his lips.

Thomas will be getting his blood today...

**And, we await the next one.**


	19. Nether Realm of the Forsaken

**No End in Sight to My Nightmare: Chapter Eighteen: Nether Realm of the Forsaken**

Claire spins around as Leon gasps, then drops to the ground, his left arm stretched across the bleeding gash in his chest, "It.. Seems the wound was worse than I thought... Ugh... Let me take a break real quick and I'll be fine..."

The biker doesn't want to acknowledge, knowing that fatigue is a sign of extreme bloodloss, but the look on his face just makes her nod, "Sure.. We can do that..."

She scoots closer to the blonde next to her, placing his head on her shoulder, "Claire?"

Her green eyes rest down on his blue, "Huh?"

"It's," he sighs, "good to be back with you... Brings back old memories..."

Claire thinks to herself, then mumbles too low for him to hear, "And old feelings..."

11

"AAAAHH!!!!"

Dusty drops to his knees and holds his tongue, not enjoying the pain at all. He's finally freed his tongue from his bottom lip, but at the cost of ALL the feeling in both parts of his anatomy...

Amid the pain, he does have to throw in the comedian, _If it was a pair of lips on another part of my anatomy... I'd be in MORE pain than I'd EVER want to be in..._

He laughs, but continues to hold his tongue, but gasps as the door he was leaning against flies open, his frost-covered form rolling out into a much warmer hallway. The double-doors fly shut, leaving the cop confused and feeling better about himself instantly.

"Well... I'm looking for Leon, but seems I found something even sweeter.. A lone cockroach..."

_Son of a bitch..._

11

_I've got you in my grasp..._

Thomas means that as he grabs the cop around his throat, the muscles in his arm barely exerting themselves, "You know... I don't think I know your name..."

The brunette can't reply as the BOW is cutting off his air supply, so Thomas reaches for his wallet, revealing the driver's license, "Dusty Stracener huh? Hmm... Well, Dusty... How would you like to die today?"

Thomas reels back as a knee is driven into his face, the cop more flexible than he thought possible. Dusty drops to the tile and starts to run away, but is drug back to the mutant by a few tentacles. Brown eyes meet black as Thomas growls in rage, his vision turning purple from the virus. Neither of them move, both knowing Thomas has the upper-hand.

Dusty swipes the sweat from his face, the temperature outside worse than back in the cold room, "Heh, seems you're worse than I thought…."

A slender eyebrow is raised in question, "What? I can't comprehend the stupidity that expels from your lips."

His target smirks and drops down, sliding his feet into Thomas's knees, sending the mutant up and into the frozen room. As Thomas slams into the wall, Dusty slams a pipe into the computer and walks out, the door slamming shut behind him.

_Damn it kid… I'll get you and the rest soon…_

11

It all really started like this:

"Hey Claire?"

"Yeah?"

Leon checks the handgun in his grip, "Where did you go after Rockfort? None of us ever saw you.."

The redhead sighs and places a hand on her hip, "Well, different places, I went to visit mom and dad…."

Leon smiles, "How are they?"

"Dead," she sighs again, "but I'm just glad they're able to listen more now…."

As the two continue talking, neither notices the mechanical death stalking around the corner, it's cameras resting on the wounded male. It chirps lightly, but it's masked by Leon kicking the wall. Clear vision turns to red as the MIR locks onto Leon's form, four claws extending to maximum length.

"But I don't mind when people talk about them like they're still alive….."

The beast looks at Leon one last time, then lunges forward, hydraulic tendons pushing the monster forward, its claws ready to attack.

……But it never gets the chance. Claire turns to face it, raises her handgun, but can't attack as something large pours from the wall, knocking Leon aside and crushing their near-silent attacker beneath a titanium-like fist.

A deep, throaty roar shakes the wall the arm came through, "Shit! Get up Leon! Get up!"

Leon rolls onto his side, staring at the monster behind the wall, blue eyes meeting purple, "Oh my god……"

11

Dusty wraps his arms around his body, still shivering, even though the temperature has risen several tens of degrees. The entire hallway he's in shakes and trembles, several light fixtures slamming down onto the tile. A loud roar sounds off from his front, his back, even from his left. Brown eyes scan the hallways, settling on his left. Boots slap the shattered tile as the policeman jumps over broken lights and fallen decorations. Another corner is turned, then Dusty comes face to face with Leon, Claire, and another mutant of some kind.

"Claire!"

Her head jerks toward him, a brief smile, then she is sent flying as a tentacle slams right into her chest. Leon flips back to dodge another fist, but he is caught mid-air by a tentacle wrapping around his left ankle. The blonde man growls, then is slammed back-first into the wall.

"My god.. Leon, Claire…." his eyes rest on the two unconscious fighters.

"Death……" growls the new monster.

For the first time, Dusty actually gets a decent observation of a monster. It stands at roughly nine feet tall, its head almost touching the Styrofoam ceiling tiles. As the frozen cop stares at the monster, something familiar strikes him about it. It's the thing that killed Drew! It's mutated even further!!

Dusty reaches for a handgun, but curses loudly as one does not exist near his person, "Fuck…."

The nemesis strikes him square in his waist, knocking the man unconscious, but not before he hears the phrase, "STOP!"

**I know it's a little short for something from me.. But severe lack of ideas here for Nightmare…. Sorry guys, if any of you are still around that is…. I'll most likely have something bigger next time.**


	20. It All Gets Darker From Here

**No****End****in****Si****g****ht****to****M****y ****Ni****g****htmare****: ****Nineteen****: ****It****All****Gets****Darker****From****Here**

Blue eyes flutter open, then slowly begin to close, before a female voice shakes the sleep from Leon's mind, "Hey.. Good to see you're awake…"

Claire smiles at him from her side of the bars, then leans back, pulling her arms back through to her side, "Didn't think you'd ever wake up…"

Leon laughs slightly, attempts to reply, but Dusty chimes in, "God I told her hours ago to throw stuff at you, your snoring wakes the dead…."

The older male just grumbles and flips the cop off, "Yeah yeah…. So.. How did we end up here?"

"I think I can answer that for you Kennedy…." Thomas slowly rounds the corner after he descends a small set of stairs..

"Thomas!" call out Leon and Claire, Dusty just kinda sitting back and picking his left ear.

"I was gonna tell you guys he was around…" is all Dusty says before Thomas continues.

"Nemesis promptly rendered all three of you unconscious… And instead of killing you, I thought I'd provide myself a little entertainment and placed you all in here… Separated of course so you can't collectively get out…"

Leon scoffs and reaches through the railing at the mutant, "C'mere!"

He flips back, landing at the base of the stairwell, "Hmph… You're feisty today.. You'll go first… I'll be back for you in a while.. Do try to stay alive…" the last line slowly fades off as he ascends the stairs.

_What the hell?_ Leon quickly feels the apprehension and fear crawl up his spine.

11

The walls are pristine, almost reflective in nature from the amount of care applied to them over the years. The floors shine with their own luminosity as the lights are flicked on, two black boots slowly clacking across them. The rows of filing cabinets are quickly passed as Thomas makes his way to the very back, where Umbrella's recent projects await their filing status.

He drops his hand on the top one and flips it open, quickly thumbing through the contents, "What shall I pull up today?"

Hunter-status reports… Viral naming conditions… New Transport Protocol… Useless crap that is not his object of search. Finally he comes across something eye-catching.

"Ah…. I think Guinevere will do nicely…."

His deep, evil laugh echoes around the room as Thomas quickly leaves the room, the lights clicking off as the door shuts behind him. This is going to be a lot of fun, Thomas can already tell…

11

"What the hell is that?" gasps Claire as the floor begins to part in the middle of Leon's cell.

"**Go ahead and enter Kennedy… Your time is nigh my enemy.."**

Claire shakes her head at Leon, her eyes begging him not to go, his injuries still haven't even finished clotting shut yet, "I'll be fine… Don't worry about me…"

She sighs and silently watches the object of her affections walk onto the platform, then descend into an uncertain fate, _Take care Leon…_

11

"What have I gotten myself into..? And why is it so damn cold in here!?"

Leon zips up his jacket, then sighs in defeat as the zipper has detached from one side. The sounds of wood on metal rings off into the room, which is half-covered in darkness..

_TWANG!_

Leon spins to the left, his eyes catching the red arrow as it flies past him, digging into the wall with god-like momentum, "What in the name of……"

The words are lost as he finally spots his assailant, a young woman holding a bow, the red quiver slung over her left shoulder. Her hair is long and platinum, shining in the single ray of light raining upon her. Ruby-red lips curl up into a smirk as she loads another arrow into the ranged weapon, then pulls it back..

"Who are you!?" screams the agent as he steps toward her..

"Dodge the next one and I'll tell you!" comes the reply.

_TWANG!_ Leon quickly drops to his knees, a scream of pain filling the room as the gash in his chest reopens.

He can't even care that he dodged another arrow as blood puddles around him, the BOW quickly walking towards him. As she approaches Leon quickly realizes the bow is actually two growths of bone protruding from her wrist, the string surgically attached to the points. She wraps the hand around his neck and lifts him up.. Her pink eyes flashing into his blue.

"Get out of here… Come back when you're not so wounded…"

Leon promptly flies through the air, then slams into wall and falls unconscious.

11

"Leon?"

_Claire? Is that you…? God it's so good to hear your voice…What time is it?_

"Leon… Wake up! Come on!"

_Just five more minutes? Come on… Please Claire?_

"Look, if you don't wake your ass up right now I'm gonna take Claire and leave here without you!"

Leon's eyes flash open in a fit of rage as he reaches out through the bars at Dusty, "I'll kill you!"

Dusty smirks and points behind him, "You may want to kill that first… Seems Thomas isn't too happy that the thing downstairs showed you mercy…"

The agent quickly spins around, his left arm wrapped around his waist instinctively as he stares into the warped and half-melted face of a Licker. The creature hisses violently at him, then drops from the ceiling with cat-like finesse..

"Not," Leon spins around, "this time pal…" he drives his right foot into its face, slamming the monstrosity's head against the wall with a crunch.

He turns to face Dusty, "When we get out of here… You're cleaning this mess up…."

11

"Why!? Why are they all still alive!?" small pieces of furniture and silverware line the walls and floor across from the mutant.

Thomas growls and stares at the cowering woman before him, the Umbrella badge making him sick to his stomach… She yelps in fear at his sudden gaze at her and attempts to crawl away, but Thomas grabs her leg…

"What do you know about the Project that created me!?" spit flies from his lips as he screams the question at her…

"I…I… I don't know anything!" she places her hands in a prayer-form, "Please don't kill me… Your mutation was caused by an infection from the Nemesis Omega Program.. We don't know anything of what the new strain does to the human body.. PLEASEDON'T KILLME!"

Thomas snarls and throws a punch down at the girl, his knuckles slamming into the wall a mere inch from her face, "Get out of my sight…"

The scientist doesn't need to be told twice, as she is gone before Thomas can stand upright. One of the monitors before him flashes, alerting Thomas to an incoming call.

"Hmm? Peculiar…" he presses the red button, a face he hasn't seen in months slowly crawling from the static.

"Donnelly?"

"Haha, yes, Thomas, it's me… How've you been doing?" the smirk on his old friend's face sends Thomas's blood into a boiling rage.

"YOU DID THIS TO ME! DIDN'T YOU!?" the walls slightly quaver from the rage.

"Hmm?" Neil applies an unemotional expression and leans back in his chair, "No… I didn't get you infected.. Though I was the one that personally sent you in to take care of any survivors…"

"Hmph, thank you for leaving me with the most aggravating guests and the most uncooperative means to deal with them…." the sarcasm is heavy and evident even through the crappy speaker system.

A chuckle, "Ah, Guinevere eh? Yeah we made a mistake by using an athlete for the base of that project… Send down the other two if one of them is injured still."

Thomas growls and glares straight into the camera, "You do realize that when I'm done here, I'm coming for you, right?"

"I doubt you'll do any such thing my old comrade," a black box is raised in Neil's left hand.

Before the mutant can raise an eyebrow to question it, a button is pressed and Thomas promptly drops to the ground, his entire body numb, "Like it? You remember the microchip we implanted in all UBCS soldiers? Seems the shock carries through the virus faster than blood…. So you disobey me, you won't get to move."

"Tu…. Tur… Turn it o… Off…." the once menacing voice is light and strained.

"Oohh…. Is that a request for mercy?" the snide expression on the Umbrella Director is too much for Thomas to bear.

Neil jumps back on his side of the conversation as Thomas is back up and staring into the camera with a new fierce determination, "Look you psychotic… FUCK! If you don't turn it off… I will overcome the feeling for more than a few minutes and personally kick your ass with my limp legs!"

Neil gasps and quickly presses the button, "Seems I need to ramp up the char-" the monitor explodes as Thomas kicks it in with a relentless boot.

"Bastard. Now, where is that last folder?" purple-tinted hands scrabble through the stack of papers on the desk as the mutant scans the names.

"AH! Here we are! Project UC-009. Twist. Hmm.. Hyper-extended muscles… Reflexes that almost border on Premonition. But… Uh oh, I don't like 'buts'…. 'Project has rejected all attempts at micro-chip implantation. Therefore all means to control this BOW have failed.' Great… Last Resort it is then…"

Something clicks in the G-Human's mind as he stares at the pictures. His lips snarl up into one of the most sadistic smiles in Umbrella history as his fingers flip open the control panel and he types in the silent self-detonation code. Before the sequence can even initiate, cracked fingers are crossing the keyboard again, this time starting the activation procedures for Twist.

"Good luck."

11

The room is completely dark, near silent except for the occasional bubbling from something within. Slowly single rows of lights flicker to life, machinery kicking into motion. Countless stasis-chambers flash blue as the different monstrosities on life-support start to float from the onset of bubbles. The farther back in the room the lights travel, the larger the tubes get, until they reach one that travels the entire length of the back wall. The Viral Weapon inside is the only BOW to rest on its back, each of its limbs are stretched out and bobbing softly in the life supporting liquid. Suddenly a red light begins to flash above the horizontal cage as ports open up underneath the monster inside, draining the crystal blue liquid. As the chamber fills with air, the chest begins to expand and contract, slowly at first, but picks up speed as four eyes crack open.

"Reanimation Sequence Complete."

Long, wormy fingers curl into a fist, then it slams through the end of the tank, nearly seven feet down. As the arm curls up and over the top, Twist slowly begins to wiggle out.

As the BOW stands up on shaky legs, it's body begins to shrink and contract, taking on a more human form. Machinery kicks to life and robotic arms begin to snap in large metallic plates around Twist's body. A few more seconds of this and the BOW is clad in heavy body-armor, hiding its true form.

As the monster turns toward the door it growls menacingly, "Project Twist is Green-Lighted."

**Yeah yeah, I'm back finally. Pumped this chapter out, hopefully can do a repeat with the next one. Do a Little Twist.**


	21. Do a Little Twist

**ResidentEvil****: ****NoEndInSi****g****htToM****y ****Ni****g****htmare****: ****ChapterTwenty****: ****DoALittleTwist**

Leon stares at what lies before them, Claire herself at a loss for words and actions, but not Dusty, who promptly enters the room and picks up the grenade launcher. His fingers wrap around the stock, the barrel is snapped open, and he smiles at the brass shell resting neatly inside. Leon rummages through the boxes and bags in the rest of the room, hoping to find anything of use as Claire steps up next to Dusty.

"Give me," her voice is stern, eyes focused on the weapon.

The brunette clutches it, "No! It's mine, I found it..."

"Do you know how to fire one missing the sight?"

Dusty gazes at the weapon, realizing he's never really fired a grenade launcher, let alone one missing the aiming apparatus. With a heavy sigh the weapon is dropped in Claire's hands, the weapon being inspected with an eye for detail as Dusty joins Leon in the hunt for weapons and ammunition. Leon is halfway through the room already by the time Dusty joins in. As the cop opens a crate and shifts through the sawdust inside, his mind replays what has happened in the last half-hour or so.

Leon killed the Licker, then used one of its talons to pry his cell door open, promptly rescuing the other two, Claire first, of course. Dusty smirks, their interest in each other is completely obvious. How long have they gone with these unspoken feelings for one another? Once they were free, the trio quickly made their way up a couple of floors, dispatching the occasional infected lab worker here and there with basic melee attacks and a pipe Leon pried off the wall in a utility closet. About ten minutes before they found this room, something apparently woke up downstairs, the monster having caused such a ruckus that it was felt by each person in the group.

"Any more shells for the M79, Leon?"

"Four more. Got a handful of handgun rounds if we could only find a weapon..." the survivor replies to the redhead quickly.

Dusty shoves another box aside, finding a black case tucked amongst the cobwebs and papers, "Oh god..."

The two people with him are quickly at his side as the rather large spider crawls out from the handle of the case, "Jesus, kill it!"

Leon arches an eyebrow at Dusty's outburst, "Scared of spiders? Even after all this?"

"That thing is huge! Zombies I can handle... Things that can crawl inside my ears, mouth, nose, and have more than four legs, no thanks..." Dusty winces as his skin crawls, even after Claire smashes it with her hand.

11

"I'll take that then," Leon grabs the case and opens it slowly, a cloud of dust swirling around him.

Inside the case, tucked against egg-crate packing, is a Beretta M9A1, the silver magazines reflecting the fluorescent lighting back into his blue eyes, "I think this might be better than your brother's firearm, Claire..."

He picks up on the scoff before he feels her breath on the back of his neck, "I doubt that gun could take his Samurai Edge... He'd still shoot rings around you."

Leon flicks the safety off and checks the trigger pull, "A little heavy on the trigger..."

He pulls the hammer back and squeezes the trigger, "Single action is pretty smooth though. So we got what, two clips and a handful of rounds for it?"

Finally Leon notices that someone is missing, "Dusty?"

"Oohh... Pretty..."

11

_Oh god, what did he find now?_ Claire turns around slowly, her eyes widening at the weapon the police officer has in his hands.

"A Beretta 93R... Umbrella does have nice taste in weaponry, that is for sure... I haven't seen one of those since Rockfort.." Memories of Steve, Alexia, Alfred, Wesker, even her brother flash through her mind.

Her daze is broken as Dusty looks at her, turning from her slowly, "It's yours, I got the explosives anyway... So, how many clips do you have for it, Dusty?"

The brunette smiles and holds up three clips, Claire immediately recognizing the magazine as a twenty-rounder, "So sixty rounds for that, forty-five for the M9A1, and five shells for the M79.. Not a bad haul I guess..."

Nothing else can be said as a sound like a snapping rubber band fills the room, the floor crumbling away as a twisted appendage tears through it, claws extending and grabbing onto the stable edge of the hole, "What the fuck!?"

Leon fires a few rounds into the arm, but the bullets just dig in, no blood, no tearing flesh, nothing. Dusty steps back and pulls off several three-round bursts from his own firearm, but curses and jumps back as a black form flies into the air. It lands almost silently, light finally covering the form. What appears to be metal body armor adorns the monster's body, covering twisted muscle and tendon., but apparently doesn't weigh it down enough to matter. Claire gasps when she realizes what it looks like, a Bandersnatch... The hyper-extended arm, the claws, they were harder to kill than anything else that wasn't a Tyrant-Class BOW. Two green eyes connect with four ice-blue orbs, a sickening soulessness looking back at her from within. It raises one arm above its head, then flings the appendage at the redhead.

Dusty tackles her to the ground as the curved arm slices by, the wind whistling from the speed of the attack, "Focus!"

11

"What in the hell has Umbrella done down here?" Thomas's purple eyes rest on the large explosive before him.

After releasing Twist from stasis, the human BOW has spent the last hour searching for his exit, as he is pretty certain Donnelly has no plans for anyone to escape Riley. His search turned up sour until he entered this room, which he is positive rests under City Hall in the center of the city. A tactical nuclear device rests before him, tubes and wires attached, keeping the device stable and safe. Someone out there holds the trigger, ready to end all of this, bury the evidence in another blast of fire and heat. While the government themselves took the destruction of Raccoon City into their own hands, it seems Umbrella plans to remove Riley themselves. Thomas smirks down at the bomb, resting a hand on it before ripping the beeping box off.

"**What did you do that for!?**" right on cue...

Thomas crushes the device in his hands and chuckles to himself, one hand covering his face as he speaks slowly, "This town will be destroyed when I want it destroyed... Not when some... CHILD thinks I need to be killed off... Or is the bomb not meant for me? Perhaps, the others? Do you have such a low amount of faith in me that you need a backup plan?"

Neal growls through the nano-com piece in Thomas's head, "**You kill them all, and I'll personally be there to pick you up...**"

"What makes you think I want anything else to do with Umbrella?" with that, Thomas places his palm against his head and sends a tentacle through, dropping to the metal flooring instantly.

11

Claire jumps toward Leon, Dusty following quickly behind as they all run out the door, the monster sending one hand after them, almost grabbing the younger male by his exposed ankle. Dusty rounds the corner just in time, the limb missing him completely. Claire slings the grenade launcher over her shoulder and pushes a door open, the three ducking in, Leon quickly dropping a cabinet in front of the door. Everyone catches their breath for a few precious moments, Claire the worse for wear. In a matter of an hour most of her horrible memories from Rockfort and Antarctica have come back in force.

This is when it hits her, "I've been working around it..."

Leon picks his head up, "What?"

She chuckles and slams her head into the wall behind her, "I never truly dealt with what happened with Steve... I just kinda pushed it aside and focused on getting my life started..."

"You dealt with it the best way that people like us know how to... I know it sounds cold, but think about it... What else could you have done? Chris, Jill, and the rest, they have their mission against Umbrella, their own personal vendetta... We couldn't join them, I had to take care of Sherry.."

"And what happened to her?" the words hurt Claire to say...

She watches him seize up, "Yeah, I made a mistake there... I'll admit that, but come on, Claire, the government was going to take her anyway... In the mental state I was in, there was no way I could've kept her... But I worked it out, focused on moving on as best I could..."

"You stayed close to me..." Claire hangs her head.

His nod is evident, "Yeah, I did... We survived together, Claire. We can get past it together... You and me..."

_Thanks, Dusty..._ Claire appreciates the fact that her friend is staying out of it.

Leon offers her a hand to help her up, "Together?"

The words are unspoken, everything that needs to be said is conveyed through her action as she grasps his hand as tightly as she can, her eyes locked with him, "Promise me.."

"I really hate to interrupt, but we got issues here..."

Leon stares at the blinking light in the corner of the room, "Is that what I think it is?"

Claire's eyes reflect the flashing yellow light, "A nuclear leak?"

11

Thomas slowly moves, hands twitching at first, followed by a slow rise to his feet, the pain extremely prevalent in his present reality, "No more voice?"

There is no reply, no sound, no debilitating shock to the system, seems the tentacle did its job in destroying the nano-chip. The fact that he didn't die is impressive, this virus having remarkable regenerative capabilities beyond his earlier assumptions. Something pangs at him from the surrounding air, his eyes slowly lowering to the bomb before him. The pressure is off, his body picking up on it almost immediately. Seems him removing the remote detonator from the bomb made it unstable... This is definitely not expected, but not unwanted...

"Well I get my wish either way... Now, where to from here?" the train is gone, there will be no helicopter to take him away from here.

His mind flashes an image of a boat, "Of course... The river... How could I forget that?"

The creek that flows through Riley connects to the Ohio River, not that far of a boat ride, definitely more than enough time to get out of the blast radius of this nuclear bomb. Thomas quickly makes his way toward the elevator that takes him toward the Steel Refinery on the outskirts of town, a decently short walk to the pier that houses his only means of escape. The Refinery sends a chill through the BOW's spine, remembering earlier how the heat was able to singe his own virus-enhanced skin...

"No time like the present to face one's fears.."

**END**


	22. Nightmarish Hope

**Resident Evil****: ****No End In Si****g****ht To M****y ****Ni****g****htmare****: ****Chapter Twent****y-****One****: ****Ni****g****htmarish Ho****p****e**

"Riley doesn't have a nuclear reactor," Dusty points out the obvious, as neither did Raccoon City.

"The Umbrella lab might have a nuclear power supply... We never really investigated it too thoroughly..." Leon sighs.

"It's a bomb," Claire speaks the truth the other two chose to ignore.

"It's the only thing that makes sense... Even though they have no real case to cover it up with, no nuclear plant, nothing that's plausible. Sure they can say their lab runs on a small nuclear generator, but that will bring down the hammer from the Energy Oversight Committee... We need to get out of the city..."

Another slam on the wall of the room they are hiding in, the twisted BOW making its presence known yet again to them, "We have to do something about that, I presume..."

Leon looks at Dusty and replies, "Not necessarily, all we have to do is outrun it, escape the city, leaving it behind to die with the rest of the city..."

"Hold it," Dusty walks up to the two of them, a look of hidden anger on his face, "you mean I am going to have to let the city that took me in, the city I swore to protect, die? With no way to get back at Umbrella?"

The wall begins to crumble as the new BOW renews its fervor to get at the trio as Claire retorts, "They won't get away with this one.. After this, I think Leon and I are going to join the battle against Umbrella with the others in Europe... You are free to join if you want..?"

11

_If I want..._ Dusty thinks on that for a moment.

Is that what he wants? To spend the rest of his life fighting an enemy they may never truly be able to beat? Can Dusty live with himself knowing the number of lives that Umbrella has taken from this world before their time? There's no question, as Dusty holds up the M93R and chambers a round.

"Absolutely."

Before they can acknowledge his reply, the wall explodes, the newest BOW from Umbrella making its second appearance to the group in the room. Claire unloads a grenade into the face of the monster as Leon pushes Dusty past the monster, urging Claire to follow suit. As the redhead ducks through the hole, she drops the empty shell and slides another into the barrel, snapping it shut as they round another corner, encountering a crumbling hole in their way.

"Jesus fucking Christ..." Leon growls and steps back a bit, attempting a run before Claire steps in front of him.

"Are you stupid? That jump with your injury? You'd never make it!"

"We don't have time for this discussion, Claire! MOVE!" Leon pushes her out of the way and then leaps through the hole, his body crumbling from the pain and he slams into the tile a floor down.

With an exasperated sigh and a growl, Claire taps Dusty on the back before jumping down herself, quickly picking Leon up and moving him out of Dusty's way. The brunette sighs himself and looks back at the room they were once in, watching as the worm-like creature slinks back around, blue eyes connecting with the cop as he screams and jumps down, landing horribly on his right knee.

"GAH!" his hands wrap around the joint as it sends wave after wave of pain through his body.

"Get, up!" Leon picks him up and the three hobble down the only hallway they can safely get through, ignoring the wet slop that sounds off behind them.

11

"Here we are... Just what I've been looking for... Access Code: Weidick Whiskey Seven."

The door of the elevator beeps open, but a scream behind him grabs his attention, _How did they get down here!?_

The BOW turns around just in time to have a tentacled-grasp clamp around his face, the smell of fresh ether telling him it's Twist. Soon he is pulled down the hall, past Leon, Claire, and Dusty, his body meeting the angry stance of Twist, muscles expanding exponentially, tearing the armor plates off. Thomas stands before a fully-extended Twist, the monster taking up most of the available space around him, the sound of snapping rubber bands drowning out everything. Purple eyes spin toward the elevator, seeing his enemies climb in, a rage building within him. Thomas jumps free of the mass of twisted sinew and muscle, running toward the elevator at full sprint.

"CLOSE IT!" screams Claire as Leon frantically presses the button.

Thomas grasps the sliding door, his teeth gritting as Dusty steps in front of him, "Elevator's full..."

The gunshot blinds the Tyrant, causing his grip to loosen as the elevator rockets toward ground level, leaving him behind as Twist closes in on him, a screech echoing off the empty hallway, dragging his attention to the monster before him, "Oh fuck me..."

11

The elevator ride was rather peaceful, which makes the scene before the trio so much more of a shock to the system. Leon pulls Claire to him as she buries her face in his chest, while Dusty slowly steps out of the elevator, his handgun raised up in case anything decides to attack. A cloud of dark smoke billows from the large vat of slowly cooling molten steel in the center of the room they arrived in. Bodies are strewn everywhere, but most of them are either hanging off the edge of the vat, burned horribly, or they lay around the vat, covered in molten steel.

"Something or someone pushed them down into the metal from the roof... Why?" Claire holds back the tears, amazed that this is hitting her so hard, even after everything she's experienced.

Leon sighs and picks up the piece of paper clenched in the death-grip of a dead civilian, "Seems someone led them here, with promise of an escape... Either a BOW got to them, or..."

Dusty speaks up, "That person knocked them all in here... The spread is too neat, not enough bloodshed or body-parts... People are fucking sick..."

A loud clang on the elevator shaft reminds them of the mess they left downstairs, and of their own pressing need to get out. If Thomas was trying to get into that elevator, then there must be an escape route here somewhere... They now find themselves tasked with finding said escape route while avoiding the sick bastard who killed all these innocent people. Leon takes point, his right arm holding the M9A1 out front while his left arm circles his chest, covering his still sore wound. Claire is in the middle, the M79 feeling heavy in her hands as her eyes avoid the wanton death around them. Dusty takes up the rear, his M93R pointed at every single body, praying they don't get up.

One somehow does, slowly scrambling toward them with its one good arm, everything below the neck scorched or covered in cooled metal. Leon grimaces down at the zombie, raises his right foot, then drops it down hard, the neck severing immediately. There are several more metallic zombies, each one dispatched in ammo-conserving ways, each person now understanding just how valuable ammunition can be nowadays.

Leon steps through the main entrance, Claire barely able to follow before the click of a hammer against Dusty's head stops them all, "Did Leslie send you?"

_Why does this always happen to me?_ The brunette sighs and turns to face the person with his life in their hands, his mouth dropping open.

Standing in front of him, holding a rather large handgun of indeterminable caliber, is none other than his own Police Chief, Charles Steiner, "Stracener? So Leslie did send you... A shame... Will have to kill you like I did the others.."

"You did this!?" Claire's rage is palpable in the air, but Leon pulls her back, letting Dusty handle this.

"You killed all these people.. Why?"

Steiner's pupils are like pin-points as they snap left and right, mouth lightly quivering, "I promised them an escape... I delivered on that promise. Some of them agreed with my idea, others fought, all of them died... One hundred and thirty seven adults, sixty-two children... Oldest was about mid-sixties, youngest was unable to talk... Leslie, where is she?"

Dusty's hands clench tightly, his mouth snarling into a scream as he snatches the gun from his superior, driving the butt of the weapon across the older man's face, "You FUCKER! After this, Leslie is the LEAST of your problems! You killed CHILDREN! CHILDREN, CHARLES!"

"Hey, Dusty, calm down... You're going to attract something here..." Leon grabs his friend's arm, which is met with a shove back.

"Kids, Leon. Sixty-two of them! Oh, what I'm going to do to you..." the Chief of Police is slowly crawling back into the darkness he was hiding in, but Claire helps Dusty drag him back into the light.

11

The pain is horrible, so many cuts that his own infection barely able to close them fast enough to keep up. Thomas groans in pain, he finally managed to escape from Twist, both of them suffering superficial injuries he is sure. As they fought each other, Twist kept climbing the elevator shaft, its mind, if it has one, focused on both Thomas and the others. He can't help but be impressed at the intelligence this project is showing, for being a failed experiment. Judging by the density of the air around him, Thomas guesses he is on the of the maintenance floors a few meters below the surface of the Refinery.

"Great, just great... Wonder what Twist is up to?" a tentacle slides from his wrist and slaps around wildly, anticipating the next battle.

11

"Guys..." Leon slowly slides toward his two partners as the elevator is pushed through its roof, tentacles flailing around madly.

The two continue their dealings with the Chief of Police as Leon checks his weapon, making sure the safety is off and a round is chambered into the barrel. He raises the handgun up and points it at the dark mass as it slithers through the opening and slaps the concrete with a heavy, wet, echoing slap. This grabs the attention of the others, three weapons meeting his, one belonging to the now restrained man behind them. Claire fires on the beast with her M79, the explosion magnified by whatever the BOW is covered in. Dusty slides the heavier gun into the holster and drains the clip of M93R rounds into the beast, his teeth grit in anger and frustration. Leon doesn't fire, doesn't fall for the trap, his eyes scanning for something to use against this monster sliding toward them. Suddenly is pulls its mass to a somewhat seated position, then they hear it, the snap of muscle, the release of pressure, and their enemy is propelled into the air, tentacles flapping through the air, hoping for the taste of blood.

"DOWN!" Leon dives into his friends, knocking them aside as the monster slams into the vat of molten steel that the civilians died in.

Drops of the orange liquid fly through the air, several landing on the attacking monster, steam and a shrill scream filling the air as the drops burn through. Leon's eyes rest on the molten metal as it cools, the metal now weighing down the mass of muscle it dried to. This gives him an idea, one commonly seen in movies, though in his experience, rarely gets the job done in real life. He leads the other two up a staircase, dodging tentacles from the mass below them as they climb higher, baiting the beast to follow. Another corner is rounded, but their path is cut off as tentacles wrap around the walkway, hyper-extended muscles pulling the stalker through the air and onto the metal walkway.

"Bingo..." Leon snatches the grenade launcher from Claire's grasp and aims the sight directly at the beast's chest.

The trigger is squeezed, but the weapon is pulled down by a mass of muscle and tentacles, the grenade flying into the ground below them. The explosion damages part of the structure supporting the metal beneath their feet, tilting the entire thing dangerously to the right. As the trio scramble to maintain their grasps on the walkway, the twisted monstrosity slowly inches toward them, black liquid pouring from its mouth. Dusty gets a foot up first, righting himself before reaching down to help the other two up.

"Can't lose each other now..." Dusty grabs Leon's hand, but the 'hand' of the monster stretches out, grasping them both tightly.

"Fuck!" Leon can't keep quiet as the attacker lifts them through the air, over the vat of molten steel, and down harder than necessary on the walkway on the other side.

11

"LEON!" Claire calls for her partner, cursing him for leaving her weaponless.

_Twist..._ her mind registers the special design that makes up its body, deciding that would be an appropriate thing to call it.

Twist pulls its muscles in, groans as it lurches forward, then stands up perfectly, looking almost human-like as it slowly walks toward her, hand reaching for her. Claire scrambles back, having a hard time keeping her balance as the walkway sways left, then right, never settling back in the middle. Tentacles wrap around her neck, lifting her up slowly, tightening even slower, the breath seizing in her lungs as her eyes meet the mutated orbs before her. In a last ditch effort to do something, Claire pulls a grenade from her pocket, jamming the bronze explosive into the tightest mass of muscle she can find, right below the head.

With the last breath in her body, Claire locks eyes with Leon, then screams, "SHOOT!"

11

"Gotcha, Claire..." Leon raises the M9A1, his right eye lining up with the sight as he finds the golden shell sticking through the back of the beast.

As he pulls the trigger, Dusty steps up and shoots the arm, causing the beast to fall forward and release their friend, which in turn causes Leon's shot to miss completely, "You shoot the explosive, she dies... We can use it later.."

_Think you are so smart..._ Leon agrees, is the better choice to make.

Claire scrambles toward the staircase, but something else picks her up, the body masked by the smoke and heat from the pit below them. Leon watches in horror as the redhead flies through the air, landing oddly against an empty tank. Rage fills his blood as he takes off into a run, sliding off the edge of the walkway, taking turns too fast, his feet jumping over, sliding under, kicking off walls on their own, his mind focused on the blurred target in the distance. He jumps, hands quickly grasping the rail as he pulls himself up effortless, his eyes meeting the purple-tinted pupils of Thomas himself.

"Ah, this is going to be fun..." the Tyrant grabs Leon by the throat, picking him up and walking toward Twist, which is poised to attack.

"What are you going to do?" Leon gasps for breath between each word as his feet drag along the walkway.

Thomas just smiles and clenches the tentacle tighter, "Twist looks hungry... Going to end this for good now..."

_I'm actually going to die here... After everything I've survived, trying to get my life back on track, this is the end..._ Leon closes his eyes as he's raised up and held out for Twist to devour.

His hands clamber around his legs, finding his knife as someone calls out behind him, "Two for one!"

Leon smiles at the voice, then drives the knife through the wet appendage around his neck, causing Thomas to scream in pain and release him. As he kicks back, forcing the Tyrant into the writhing tentacles of Twist, Leon catches Dusty holding up the M79, barrel aimed at the duo as the ex-cop continues to fall down and away.

11

_I can do this..._ Dusty holds the grenade launcher in surprisingly steady hands as he aims right for Thomas as he stumbles more toward the beast before them.

Claire steps up beside him and takes his M93R, emptying round after round into the mutant's back, pushing him closer and closer toward the pool of molten steel. Dusty smiles as black tentacles wrap around Thomas's form, pulling him in farther, devouring him as the trigger on the M79 is squeezed. The boom is nearly silent as the grenade connects with the space between Thomas's shoulders. The platform lurches heavily to the left, the duo stepping back off the walkway as Dusty fumbles to load the last shell into the M79.

Claire places a hand on his shoulder and replies, "I got this one."

The redhead holds up the M93R, clicking it off of three-round and aiming at the golden speck amongst the mass of black muscle. A deep breath fills her lungs, then she exhales, her finger squeezing the trigger softly. The handgun belches out the last round and it connects with the firing cap of the grenade, the explosion again magnified by the chemical that coats Twist. When the smoke clears, Leon, Claire, and Dusty watch as the mass of Thomas and Twist fall over the railing and into the vat of molten steel.

"Is it over?" Dusty drops to his knees as all the strength in his body leaves him.

Leon steps up and replies, "Should be, the steel should cool pretty soon, sealing them inside. Either way, the nuke is going to go off soon, we need to go."

Dusty stands up slowly, then looks toward his old superior, "Steiner! Where is the escape route Leslie was going to use!?"

The larger man growls and spits back, "She's probably already taken it! Stupid bitch is going to get away by boat!"

"Should we bring him with us?" Claire glares down at the man.

"No, he's just as bad as the monsters in this city..."

**END**

**Last chapter coming up!**


	23. Unspoken Dreams

**Resident****Evil****: ****No****End****In****Si****g****ht****To****M****y ****Ni****g****htmare****: ****Cha****p****ter****Twent****y-****Two****: ****Uns****p****oken****Dreams**

Leon slowly hobbles behind his friends, the heavier man resting over his shoulder, and curses his conscience for making him take Steiner along. Every step seems harder as Steiner guides them to the supposed boat that is awaiting them. Claire can't carry the weight, Dusty was crying about his knees, leaving Leon, the only truly-injured member of the crew to shoulder the burden of their guide. Leon finally groans and drops Steiner on his back, the man screaming in pain, alerting a lone zombie to their location.

The dead citizen slowly turns toward them, its mouth opening into a groan that does not come as Leon drains a round into its face, "You carry him, he's your boss..."

Dusty smiles and slowly walks toward the experienced survivor, "I told you to leave him..."

"Another forty meters and make a left into the alley, the pier is just through it..." Steiner groans as Dusty struggles to pick him up.

"Lay off the coffee, boss..."

Claire smiles at the two, leading the way, gun aimed for anything that moves, taking Leon's hand in hers as they turn into the alley. They exchange a smile before something clatters from in front of them, causing both to drop their hold on each other and aim weapons down into the shadows. A cat meows at them before hissing and running off, causing a wave of hope and calm to overwhelm them. This is it, the same moment that hit them when they made it into the sunlight outside the tunnel from Raccoon City. Dusty calls out to them as the boat appears before them, pristine and untouched, and surrounded by Umbrella guards.

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Leon growls in a hushed voice as they duck behind a few dumpsters and trash cans.

Dusty covers Steiner's mouth before he says anything, his eyes glaring at the trio of armed soldiers toiling away at they machine guns, "What do we do?"

"Nothing, watch..." Claire points to the other end of the dock, where a Licker slowly crawls down the wall, its tongue slowly slithering out in anticipation.

"Do they not know about the bomb that's ready to go off?" Leon chooses to ask the stupid question as the Licker pounces on the smaller of the three Umbrella goons, tearing his throat in one fell swipe.

The remaining two open fire on the beast, which uses its tongue to trip one guard, then pounces on the other, claws landing inside the chest, blood spraying into the air as a muted scream flows from the body. The last soldier stands up, screams something into the com unit in his helmet, then screams as two more tongues wrap around each of his legs, two Lickers hidden in more shadows. The first Licker rears back on its hind legs, then drives the tongue through the man's face, glass shattering as the helmet flies off. The three beasts begin chowing down on the dead meat as Leon, Claire, and Dusty slowly make their way toward them, guns raised. Claire holds up a hand as she empties the last grenade into the space, destroying the bodies and monsters in one shot. In one last-ditch move, the four bodies run for the boat and drop in, Leon's hands already turning the motor on and guiding their salvation through the murky creek. The sun begins to rise off in the distance as the creek joins up with the Ohio River, opening the group up to hope and happiness.

"Oh god..." Dusty falls back into the back seat of the boat next to Steiner, his body beaten with exhaustion beyond anything he's felt before.

"That happens... You'll get used to it..." Claire sits across from him, her face suddenly so worn she looks like a different person.

"Does it ever get easier?" the brunette calls over the crashing waves.

Leon laughs and turns back to Dusty, "Welcome to the family..."

11**Ten Months Later**11

Heavy footsteps drag down the wooden stairs as Dusty runs to answer the door. Having traded his street clothes from Riley to a more combat-ready set up of jeans and a hoodie, the brunette has a look of determination on his face as the door is flung open, Leon standing there with an unknown man.

"Hey, Leon. What can I do you for?"

The man steps up, smiling at him and holding out a badge, "Welcome to the family... We'd like to bring you into S.T.A.R.S. Get you fighting the good fight. Name's Chris Redfield. Claire speaks highly of you. She sends a message, asking for the M79 back."

Dusty smiles and takes the badge, "When do I start?"

**END!**

**A/N I know this kinda stands on its own, started writing this before RE4 came out. So kinda in its own universe I guess. Sorry for the long delays, life dropped on me, got lost in another story, too many things to name... Sorry everyone, hope it was worth the wait.**


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